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OCEAN TO OCEAN 



OCEAN to OCEAN 



Sandford Fleming's Expedition 

through 

CANADA IN 1872. 



BEING A DIARY KEPT DURING A JOURNEY FROM 

THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC 

With the Expedition of the Engineer-in-Chief of the 
Canadian Pacific and Intercolonial Railways. 



BY 

THE REV. GEORGE MIGRANT, 

OF HALIFAX, N. S. 

SECRETARY TO THE EXPEDITION. 



WITH SIXTY ILLUSTRATIONS, 




LONDON : 
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, LOW, & SEARLE, 

TROWN BUILDINGS, i83 FLEET STREET. 
1873. 



^ 












*v 



TO THE PUBLIC 



Our preface consists of an apology to you, and of thanks 
to friends. 

The book, except the first chapter and the last, is 
simply a Diary written as we journeyed. It is a round 
unvarnish'd tale, and we hope that its truthfulness may 
compensate for its defects. 

We know that it has many literary mistakes. You 
will attribute them all to the circumstances under which 
it was written, and to the fact that the writer, living a 
thousand miles away from the printer, had no sufficient 
opportunities to correct the proofs. 

The illustrations are mainly from photographs and on 
this account may be considered of special interest. 

Our maps of the country, east of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, are mainly from Captain Palliser's ; those of the 
Pacific slope from Governor Trutch's map of British 
Columbia. For a number of the plates illustrating the 
Dawson route we are indebted to Mr. Desbarats and his 
artists ; to the latter and to a kind lady in Ottawa, for 
making pictures out of our own rude but, we believe, 
faithful outlines. 

Our best thanks are due to Professor Daniel Wilson 
for his sketches of Nepigon Bay and River, and to Mrs. 
Hopkins for permitting the publisher to copy her wonder- 
ful painting of " Running a Rapid ;" unfortunately, the 
beauty of the picture has been marred in reducing it to so 
small a scale. Finally, we thank those who made the 
sketches of Bute Inlet and the Hamathco River ; and all 
and sundry who kindly assisted us in one way or another. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Page 
Introductory * 

CHAPTER II. 

FROM HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA; TO THUNDER BAY, LAKE SUPERIOR. 

Halifax.— Intercolonial Railway.— Moncton.— Miramichi.— Restigouche.— Mata- 
pedia. — Cacouna. — Lord Dufferin. — Riviere du Loup. — Quebec. — Montreal. — 
Toronto. — Collingwood.— A man overboard.— Owen Sound.— Steamer Frances 
Smith. — Provoking delays. — Killarney. — Indians. — Bruce Mines. — Sault Ste. 
Marie. — Lake Superior. — Sunset. — Full Moon. — Harbor of Gargantua. — The 
Botanist. — Michipicoten Island. — Nepigon Bay. — Grand Scenery. — Sunday on 
Board. — Silver Islet. — Prince Arthur's Landing 10 

CHAPTER III. 

FROM THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 

Shebandowan Road. — Rich Vegetation. — Rivers Kaministiquia and Matawan. — 
Shebandowan Lake. — Luggage. — Emigrants. — Canoe Train. — Iroquois In- 
dians. — Sir George Simpson's Guide. — Lake Kashaboiwe. — The Height of 
Land. — Lac des Mille Lacs. — Baril Portage and Lake. — First Night under 
Canvas. — Lake Windigostigwan. — Indian Encampment. — Chief Blackstone's 
Wives. — The Medicine-man. — LakeKaogassikok. — Shooting Maligne Rapids. 
— Lake Nequaquon. — Loon Portage. — Mud Portage. — American Portage. — 
Lake Nameukan. — Rainy Lake. — Fort Francis. — Rainy River. — Hungry 
Hall.— Slap-jacks.— Lake of the Woods.— The North-West Angle.— A Tough 
Night. — Oak Point. — First glimpse of the Prairies. — Floral Treasures. — The 
Dawson Route. — Red River 2S 

CHAPTER IV. 

PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 

Extent. — Population. — Land Claims of original Settlers. — Sale of Lots in Winni- 
peg. — Hudson's Bay Company. — Clergymen of the Settlement. — Military 



X OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

Page. 
Camp. — Archbishop Tache\ — United States Consul.— Conflicting opinions 

respecting the Fertile Belt. — Our outfit for the Prairies.— Chief Commissioner 
Smith. — Hudson's Bay Company. — Lieut. -Governor Archibald. — Departure 
from Silver Heights. — White Horse Plains. — Rev. Mr. McDougal. — Portage 
la Prairie. — The Last Settler. — Climate, etc., of Manitoba, compared with the 
older Provinces. — Sioux Indians in war paint. — General remarks on Manito- 
ba.— Emigrants and the United States' Agents.— Treatment of the Indians.. 66 

CHAPTER V. 

FROM MANITOKA TO POST CABLTOl* OH THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 

Fine Fertile Country.— The Water question. — Duck Shooting. — Salt Lakes. — 
Camping on the Plains.— Fort Klliee. — Qn'Appelle Valley.— " Souzie."— The 
River Assinilx. inc. —The Builalo.— Cold Nights.— Rich Soil.— Lovely Country. 
— Little Touchwood Hills.— Cause of Prairie Fires.— A Day of Rest.— Prairie 
Uplands. — Indian Family. — Builalo Skulls.— Desolate Tract, — Quill Lake. — 
Salt Water.— Broken Prairie.— Round Hill.— Prairie Fire.— Rich Black Soil. 

— Magnificent Panorama. — Break-neck speed. — The South Saskatchewan. — 

Sweethearts and Wives. — Fori Carllon. — Free Traders.— The Indians. — 
Crop Raisin- 100 

OHAPTEB VI. 

Airfare <nh south BASKATOHKWAH TO BDMOHTOH, 

The Thick wood Hills.— The Ball.- -Btongh of Despond. Bears' Paddling Lake.— 

Indian IflfftrfftMl Result.— IVinmican. — Fack-nsfa Bake.— The Crees and 
Blackfeet.— Chaime in Vegetation, — Resemblance to Ontario. — The Bed- 

bt Hills. — Riofa Uplands and Valleya^— Fori Pitt.— The Hone Guard.— 

Fresh Builalo Meat. — Partially Wooded Country. — Cree Gu< Bga- 

nappi.— Olorioti-. View.— Our LOOgltode.— The Isothermal Bines.— Scalping 
Raids.— The Flora,— VlCtOTlS Missi(.n. — Indian Sehool.— Crops Raised.— A 

Laxly Visitor.— Timber.— Hone inn. — Edmonton. — Goal. — Wheal and other 

Crops.— Gold-Washing. — Climate.— 80ll. — Indian Race-.— Water.— Fuel.— 

135 

CHAPTER VII. 

raOM VOKT BDKOHTOH TO THK i:i\kk ATHABASCA. 

Report, flonitle't Farewell.— si. Albert Mission.— Bishop Grandin.— 

Small-iH).\._ Oivat Mortality.— Indian Orphans.— The Sisters of Charity.— 
Road to Lake St. Ann's.— Luxuriant Vegetal ion. — Pelican.— Farly Frosts. 

—Pack HoraoB. Leaving Bt Ann'i^—Indians.— Vapour Booths.— Thick 

Woods.— Pern hi na River.— Coal.— Boh si id; Camp. — Condemned Dogs. — 



CONTENTS. XI 

Page- 
Beaver Dams.— Murder. — Horse Lost. — A Birth-day. — No Trail. — Muskegs. 
— Windfalls. — Beavers. — Traces of Old Travellers. — Cooking Pemruican. — 

Crossing the McLeod. — Wretched Road. — Iroquois Indians. — Slow Progress 

Merits of Pemmican. — Bad Muskegs. — Un Beau Chemin. — A Mile an Hour. 
— Plum-pudding Camp. — Ten Hours in the Saddle. — Athabasca River. — The 
Rocky Mountains. — Bayonet Camp 181 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 

The Flora. — The Mountains. — Prairie River. — Grilled Beaver. — Roche a Myette. 
— Roche a Perdrix. — Roche Roncle. — Jasper House. — Roche Jacques. — Roche 
Suette. — Roche Bosche. — First Night in the Mountains. — Crossing the Atha- 
basca. — Magnificent Mountain Scenery. — Pyramid Rock. — Jasper Lake. — 
Snaring River. — Jasper Valley. — We meet Pacific Men. — Hyiu muck-a- 
muck ! Hyiu iktahs ! — Old Henry House. — The Caledonian Valley. — A 
Rough Trail. — Desolate Camping Ground. — Good Cheer. — The Trail Party. — 
Yellow Head Pass. — Nameless Mountain Peaks. — Sunday Dinner in "The 
Pass." 221 

CHAPTER IX. 

YELLOW HEAD PASS TO THE NORTH THOMPSON RIVER, 

Plants in Flower. — The Water-shed. — Entering British Columbia. — Source of 
the Fraser River. — Yellow Head Lake. — Serrated Peaks. — Benighted. — 
Moose Lake. — Milton and Cheadle. — Relic- of the Headless Indian. — Col- 
umbia River. — The Three Mountain Ranges. — Horses Worn Out. — First 
Canyon of the Fraser. — The Grand Forks. — Changing Locomotion Power. — 
Robson's Peak. — Fine Timber. — Tcte Jaune Cache. — Glaciers. — Countless 
Mountain Peaks. — A Good Trail. — Fording Canoe River. — Snow Fence. — 
Camp River — Albreda, — Mount Milton. — Rank Vegetation. — Rain. — A Box 

in V's Cache for S. F The Red Pyramid. — John Glen. — The Forest. — 

Camp Cheadle 246 

CHAPTER X. 

ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON RIVER TO KAMLOOPS. 

Breakfast by Moonlight. — The Bell-horse. — Mount Cheadle. — Blue River and 
Mountains. — Goose Creek. — The Headless Indian. — Porcupine Breakfast. — 
The Canyon. — Mule Train. — At Hell Gate, meet Friends. — Gathering at 
Camp U. and V. — Good Cheer.— Still Water. — Round Prairie. — Exciting News 
two months old. — Change in the Flora. — Bunch Grass. — Raft River. — Clear- 
water. — Boat to Kamloops. — Assiniboine Bluff. — Last Night under Canvass. 
— Siwash Houses. — Signs of Civilization. — Stock Raising. — Wages in British 
Columbia, — Arid Aspect of Country. — Darkness on the River. — Arrival at 
Kamloops 272 



XII OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

CHAPTER XI. 

fro^i kaml.oops to the sea. 

Page. 

Under a Roof again. — Kamloops Beef. — Sermon. — John Chinaman. — No Letters. 

— Lake Kamloops. — Savona's Ferry. — A Night Ride to Asheroft. — Farming 
Country. — Sage Brush. — Irrigation. — A Broken Leg. — The Judge and the 
Miners. — Gold Mining. — Siwashes and Chinamen. — Indian Graves. — The 
Waggon Road. — Canyons of the Thompson. — Big-bugs. — Lytton. — The Rush 
to the Gold Mines. — Obstacles to Settlement. — Fffeotsof Uneducated Salmon. 
— Boston Bar. — Jackass Mountain. — The Road along the Canyons. — Grand 
Scenery. — Suspension Bridge. — Spuzzum's Creek. — Yale. — Letters from 
Home. — Travelling by Steam again. — Steamer "Onward." — Hope. — The 
Judiciary of British Columbia. — New "Westminster. — Salmon. — Assaying 
Office. — Burrard's Inlet. — Grand Potlatch. — The "Sir James Douglas." — 
General Remarks 294 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE coast. AND VAKCOITVBR'S [BLAND. 

On the Waters Of the Pacific. — Bute Inlet.— Valdes Island. — The Fiords of British 
Columbia. — Waddlngton Harbor. — Glaciers. — Chllooten Indians. — Massacre. 
— Party X. — Salmon. — Arran Rapids.— -Seymour Narrows. — Mcn/.ies' Bay. — 
Party Y. — The Straits of Georgia. — New Settlements on Vancouver's Island. 
— Nanaimo. — Coal Mines. — Concert. — Mount Baker. — Pujct Sound. — San 
Juan Island. — The olympian Mountains. — Victoria. — Esquimau, Harbor. — 
A Polyglot City.— The Lasl of Terry .—The Pacific Ocean.— .Barclay Sound. 
— Alberni Inlet. — Sunset on the Pacific— Return to Victoria.— The Past, 
-nt. and Future. — Tie- Some-stretch. — The Greal American Desert :?2:> 

CHAPTER XIII. 

■ am. 

log and reorosaing the Continent. — Writers on the North-West. — Mineral 
Wealth behind Lake Superior. — The "Fertile-belt." — our Fellow Travellers. — 
The " Rainhow " of the North-West. — Peace Biver.— Climate compared with 
Ontario.— Natural Bichesof the Country. — The Russia of America. — Its Army 

Of Construction. — The Pioneers. — Esprit de corps. —Hardships and Hazards. 
—Mournful Keitth-roll.— Tlie Work <>t ( '. .iMruction.— Va-I Breadth Of the 

Dominion. — in Varied Features, — its Bxhaustless Resources. — u< Constitu- 
tion. — its Queen 351 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



>■ The Bruce Mixes, Steamboat Landing Plate 

., Sault Ste. Marie {from the South side) " 

. Moose Mountain, Nepigon Bay u 

L. Ktsagegan, Nepigon River « 

Nepigon River (looking towards the Bay) " 

SlEVER ISEET " 

Thunder Cape, entrance to Thunder Bay " 

Thunder Bay to Fokt Fbancis {Map) " 

Thunder Bay (from Prince Arthur's Landing) « 

^ Oskondagee (on the road to Shebandoivan) " 

^ Head of Lake Shebandowan " 

Running a Rapid " 

Fort Francis « 

Fort Francis to Fort Garry (Map) " 

Hungry Hall " 

Birch Creek Station, on the road to Fort Garry " 

Fort Garry to Fort Ellice (Map) " 

* Indian Encampment on the Prairie " 

Fort Ellice to South Saskatchewan River (Map) « 

* Buffalo Skin Lodge and Rep River Carts " 

* The South Saskatchewan River « 

South Saskatchewan to Fort Pitt (Map) " 

- * Buffalo Skull ( Wood cut) 

• * Fort Carlton « 

Fort Pitt to Fort Edmonton (Map) " 

* Fort Edmonton « 

Edmonton to Jasper House, and Yellow Head Pass (Map) " 

* Sword Bayonet, found at the base of the Rocky Mountains 

(Wood cut) 

. * Jasper House (looking towards Roche a Miette) " 

( * Jasper House (looking West) " 

, Jasper Lake (looking South) " 

Caledonian "Valley (looking towards Jasper Valley) " 

Caledonian Valley (looking towards Yellow Head Pass) " 





To face 


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page 17 


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Illustrations marked thus * are from Photographs. 



XIV 



OCEAN TO OCEAN. 



The Yellow Head Pass (Looking West) Plate No, 

Yellow Head Pass to Kamloops (Map) " 

Yellow Head Lake (looking Westerly) " 

Yellow Head Lake (looking Easterly) " 

* Near the Grand Forks of the Fraser River « 

* Mouxt Milton from Albreda Lake " 

* Above the Forks of the North Thompson " 

* Mount Cheadlk «« 

* Confluence of Muddy and N. Thompson Rivers « 

* Skull of the Headless Indian " 

* The Assiniboine Bluff « 

* Kamloops « 

* From Kamloops looking NORTHBBLT " 

Kamloops to Nmw Whbtminbtbb (Map) •« 

* Sayonas Ferry, nk.vi: OUTLBT 01 I.akk K kMLOOPS " 

' Thompson Ri\ku ABOVB Lyttor " 

* Vikw hear Hki.l's <;a i i . PHASER BlVBB m 

* Fraskk BlVBB (17 miles above Vale) " 

* Yale (Head of Xa i igation on the Fraser) " 

straits ok GSOBOIA and part OF VANOOUVBB [BLAND 

[Map) " 

BTJTB Inlet (looking toward* Xeadle Peak Mountain) « 

The HaMATHCO (looking ujt/rom head of Bute Inlet) " 

The Hamathoo below tih. hk.kh.k « 

Juab ds Pth a Btbah ro i be i\\< trie (X bam [Map) " 

Albbbni Harbour « 

LCB RlVBB at l'..i:i DUNVSOAN [looking Easterly) " 

* Folks ok ski k\a BlVBB [January 1878) « 

* GREAT Yu.i.ia of Ti \< i Bivbb (through the Rocky Moun- 

tains) u 

■ Salmon Cove, Nassb River, British Columbl* 



33 


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Frontis. 



Ocean to Ocean. 

Sandford Fleming's Pacific Expedition, 

The Members: 
The Chief, Sandford Fleming, C. E., Ottawa. 

" Doctor, Arthur Moren, M. D., Halifax. 

" Botanist, ...... John Macoun, M. A., Belleville. 

*' Photographer, etc., . Charles Horetzky, ex-H. B. Officer. 

Frank, Son of the Chief, (a lad of 16). 

Terry, the Cook, (Sergeant) Terrance McWilliams. 

The Secretary, ...... Rev. Geo. M. Grant, Halifax. 



Fellow Travellers: 
The Colonel, (from Toronto to Fort Garry) Col. Robertson Ross, 

Adjutant-General. 
Hugh, son of Col. Robertson Ross, (a lad of 16). 
Mr. McDougal, (from Fort Garry to Edmonton), Superintendent of 

Wesleyan Missions on the Saskatchewan. 
Mr. Macaulay, (from Carlton to Edmonton), Hudson Bay Co. Officer. 
Mr. King, do do 

Mr. Adams, (from Edmonton to St. Ann's), do 

Guides, Voyageurs, Packer's, etc. 
Ignace, Louis, Baptiste, Toma, etc., (from Shebandowan to the North- 
west Angle.) 
Emilien, Jerome, Marchand, Friedrich, Willie, (from Fort Garry to Fort 

Carlton.) 
Maxime, (from Fort Garry to Lake St. Albert.) 
Souzie, (from White Horse Plains to Edmonton.) 
Haroosh, Legrace, The Little Bird, (from Carlton to Fort Pitt.) 
Kisanis, Cheeman, (from Fort Pitt to Edmonton.) 
Brown, Beaupre, (from Edmonton to Forks of Fraser River.) 
Valad, (from Lake St. Ann's to Forks of Fraser River.) 
Jack, Joe, (from Forks of Fiaser River to Kamloops.) 



Ocean to Ocean 

THROUGH CANADA IN 1872. 



CHAPTER I. 

Introductory, 

Travel a thousand miles up a great river ; more than 
another thousand along great lakes and a succession of smaller 
lakes ; a thousand miles across rolling prairies ; and another 
thousand through woods and over three great ranges of moun- 
tains, and you have travelled from Ocean to Ocean through 
Canada. All this Country is a single Colony of the British 
Empire ; and this Colony is dreaming magnificent dreams of a 
future when it shall be the " Greater Britain," and the highway 
across which the fabrics and products of Asia shall be carried, 
to the Eastern as well as to the Western sides of the Atlantic. 
Mountains were once thought to be effectual barriers against 
railways, but that day has gone by ; and, now that trains run 
between San Francisco and New York, over summits of eight 
thousand two hundred feet, it is not strange that they should 
be expected soon to run between Victoria and Halifax, over a 
height of three thousand seven hundred feet. At any rate, a 
Canadian Pacific Railway has been undertaken by the Dominion; 
and, as this book consists of notes made in connection with the 
survey, an introductory chapter may be given to a brief history 
of the project. 

For more than a quarter of a century before the Atlantic was 
connected by rail with the Pacific public attention had been 
frequently called, especially in the great cities of the United States, 



2 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

to the commercial advantage and the political necessity of such 
connection ; but it was not till 1853 that the Secretary of War 
was authorized by the President to employ topographical 
engineers and others "to make explorations and surveys, and to 
ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a rail- 
road from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean." From 
that time the United States Government sent a succession of 
well-equipped parties to explore the western half of the Conti- 
nent. The reports and surveys of these expeditions fill thirteen 
large quarto volumes, richly embellished, stored with valuable 
information concerning the country, and honestly pointing out 
that, west of the Mississippi Valley, there were vast extents of 
desert or semi-desert, and other difficulties so formidable as to 
render the construction of a railroad well nigh impracticable. 
Her Majesty's Government aware of this result, and aware, also, 
that there was a " fertile belt," of undefined size, in the same 
longitude as the Great American Desert, but north of the forty- 
ninth degree of latitude, organized an expedition, under Captain 
Palliser, in 1857, to explore the country between the west of 
Lake Superior and the Rocky Mountains ; and also "to ascer- 
tain whether any practicable pass or passes, available for horses, 
existed across the Rocky Mountains within British Territory, 
and south of that known to exist between Mount Brown and 
Mount Hooker," known as the " Boat Encampment Pass." It 
was unfortunate that the limitation expressed in this last clause, 
was imposed on Captain Palliser, for it prevented him from 
exploring to the north of Boat Encampment, and reporting 
upon the "Yellow Head Pass," which has since been found 
so favourable for the Railway and may soon be used as the 
"gateway" through the mountains to British Columbia and 
the Pacific. The difficulties presented by passes further south, 
and by the Selkirk Mountains, led Palliser to express an 
opinion upon the passage across the Mountains as hasty 



INTRODUCTORY. 3 

and inaccurate as his opinion, about the possibility of con- 
necting Ontario or Quebec with the Red River and Sas- 
katchewan Country is now found to be. After stating that his 
expedition had made connection between the Saskatchewan 
Plains and British Columbia, without passing through United 
States Territory, he added, — " Still the knowledge of the 
country, on the whole, would never lead me to advise a line of 
communication from Canada, across the Continent to the 
Pacific, exclusively through British Territory. The time has 
forever gone by for effecting such an object ; and the unfor- 
tunate choice of an astronomical boundary line has completely 
isolated the Central American possessions of Great Britain 
from Canada in the east, and also almost debarred them from 
any eligible access from the Pacific Coast on the west." The best 
answer to this sweeping opinion, is the "Progress Report" on the 
Canadian Pacific Railway exploratory survey, presented to 
the House of Commons, in Ottawa, in the Session 1872, in which 
the advantages of the Yellow Head Pass over every other 
approach to the Pacific are shown ; and as complete an answer 
to the second part will be furnished in the Report to be 
presented in the spring of 1873. The journals of Captain 
Palliser's explorations, extending over a period of four years, 
from 1857 to i860, were printed in extenso by Her Majesty's 
Government in a large " Blue Book," and shared the fate of all 
blue books. There are, probably, not more than half a dozen 
copies in the Dominion. A copy in the Legislative Library at 
Ottawa is the only one known to the writer. They deserved a 
better fate, for his own notes and the reports of his associates, 
Lieutenant Blakiston, Dr. Hector, M. Bourgeau and Mr. 
Sullivan, are replete with useful and interesting facts about the 
soil, the flora, the fauna, and the climate of the plains and the 
mountains. M. Bourgeau was the botanist of the expedition. 
On Mr. Sullivan, an accomplished mathematician and astro- 



4 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

nomical observer and surveyor, devolved the principal labors of 
computation. Dr. Hector, to whose exertions the success of the 
expedition was chiefly owing, had the charge of making the 
maps, both geographical and geological ; and, whenever a side 
journey promised any result, no matter how arduous or danger- 
ous it might be, Dr. Hector was always ready. His name is 
still revered in our North-west, on account of his medical skill 
and his kindness to the Indians, and most astonishing tales are 
still told of his travelling feats in mid-winter among the moun- 
tains. 

After printing Captain Palliser's journal, Her Majesty's 
Government took no step to connect the East of British America 
with the Centre and the West, or to open up the North-west to 
emigration, although it had been clearly established that we had 
a country there, extending over many degrees of latitude and 
longitude, with a climate and soil equal to that of Ontario. In 
the meantime, the people of the United States, with charac- 
teristic energy, took up the work that was too formidable for their 
government. Public-spirited men, in Sacramento and other parts 
of California, embarked their all in a project which would make 
their own rich State the link between the old farthest East and the 
Western World on both sides of the Atlantic. The work was 
commenced on the east and west of the Rocky Mountains. 
Congress granted extraordinarily liberal subsidies in lands and 
money, though in a half sceptical spirit, and as much under the 
influence of " Rings " as of patriotism. When the member for 
California was urging the scheme with a zeal that showed that 
he honestly believed in it, Mr. Lovejoy, of Illinois, could not 
help interjecting, " Does the honorable member really mean to 
tell me he believes that, that road will ever be built ?" " Pass 
the Bill, and it will be constructed in ten years," was the answer. 
In much less than the time asked for it was constructed, and it 
is at this day as remarkable a monument to the energy of our 



INTRODUCTORY. 5 

neighbours as the triumphant conclusion of their civil war, or 
the re-building of Chicago. Three great ranges of mountains 
had to be crossed, at altitudes of eight thousand two hundred 
and forty, seven thousand one hundred and fifty, and seven 
thousand feet ; snow-sheds and fences to be built along exposed 
parts, for miles, at enormous expense ; the work, for more than 
a thousand miles, to be carried on in a desert, which yielded 
neither wood, water, nor food of any kind. No wonder that the 
scheme was denounced as impracticable and a swindle. But its 
success has vindicated the wisdom of its projectors ; and now no 
fewer than four different lines are organized to connect the 
Atlantic States with the Pacific, and to divide with the Union 
and Central Pacific Railways, the enormous and increasing 
traffic they are carrying. 

While man was thus triumphing over all the obstacles of nature 
in the Territory of the United States, how was it that nothing was 
attempted farther north in British America, where a " fertile 
belt" stretches west to the base of the Rocky Mountains, and 
where the mountains themselves are pierced by river-passes that 
seem to offer natural highways through to the Ocean ? The 
North American Colonies were isolated from each other ; the 
North-west was kept under lock and key by the Hudson Bay Com- 
pany; and though some ambitious speeches were made, some 
spirited pamphlets written, and Bulwer Lytton, in intro- 
ducing the Bill for the formation of British Columbia as a 
Province, saw, in vision, a line of loyal Provinces, from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific, the time had not come for " a consum- 
mation so devoutly to be wished." Had the old political state of 
things continued in British America, nothing would have been done 
to this day. But, in 1867, the separate Colonies of Canada, New 
Brunswick and Nova Scotia, became the Dominion of Canada ; 
in 1869 the Hudson Bay Company's rights to the North-west 
were bought up; and, in 1871, British Columbia united itself 



6 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

to the new Dominion ; and thus the whole mainland of British 
America became one political State under the aegis of the 
Empire. One of the terms on which British Columbia joined the 
Dominion was, that a railway should be constructed within ten 
years from the Pacific to a point of junction with the existing 
railway systems in the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and 
surveys with this object in view were at once instituted. 

What did this preparatory survey-work in our case mean ? It 
meant that we must do, in one or two years, what had been 
done in the United States in fifty. To us the ground was all 
new. None of our public men had ever looked much beyond 
the confines of their particular Provinces; our North-west, in some 
parts of it, was less an unknown land to the people of the States 
along the boundary line than to the people of the Dominion ; 
and, in other parts, it was unknown to the whole world. No 
white man is known to have crossed from the Upper 
Oltawa to Lake Superior or Lake Winnipeg. There were 
maps of the country, dotted with lakes and lacustrne 
rivers here and there; but these had been made up largely from 
sketches, on bits of birch-bark or paper, and the verbal descrip- 
tions of Indians ; and, as the Indian has little or no conception 
of scale or bearings ; as in drawing the picture of a lake, for 
instance, when his sheet of paper was too narrow, he would, 
without warning, continue the lake up or down the side; an 
utterly erroneous idea of the surface of the country was given. 
A lake was set down right in the path of what otherwise was an 
eligible line, and, after great expense had been incurred, it was 
found that there was no lake within thirty miles of the point. 
In a word, the country between Old Canada and Red River 
was utterly unknown, except along the canoe routes travelled by 
the Hudson Bay men north-west of Lake Superior. Only five or 
six years since, a lecturer had to inform a Toronto audience that 
he had discovered a great lake, called Ncpigon, a few miles to the 



INTRODUCTORY. 7 

north of Lake Superior. When so litttle was known, the task 
was no light one. Engineers were sent out into trackless, 
inhospitable regions, obliged to carry their provisions on their 
backs over swamps, rocks, and barriers, when the Indians failed 
them, to do their best to find out all thsy could, in as short a 
time as possible. 

Far different was it with our neighbours. They could afford to 
spend, and they did spend, half a century on the preparatory 
work. Their special surveys were aided and supplemented by 
reports and maps extending back over a long course of years, 
drawn up, as part of their duty, by the highly educated officers 
of their regular army stationed at different posts in their 
Territories. These reports, as well as theunofficia' narratives of 
missionaries, hunters, and traders, were studied, both before and 
after being pigeon-holed in Washington. The whole country 
had thus been gradually examined from every possible point of 
view ; and, among other things, this thorough knowledge 
explains the success of the United States' Government in all 
its treaty-making with Great Britain, when territory zuas con- 
cerned. The history of every such treaty between the two 
Powers is the history of a contest between knowledge and 
ignorance. The one Power always knew what it wanted. 
It therefore presented, from the first step in the negotiation to 
the last, a firm and apparently consistent front. The other had 
only a dim notion that right was on its side, and a notion, 
equally dim, that the object in dispute was not worth contending 
for. 

Was it wise, then, for the Dominion to undertake so gigantic 
a public work at so early a stage in its history ? It was wise, 
because it was necessary. By uniting together, the British 
Provinces had declared that their destiny was — not to ripen and 
drop, one by one, into the arms of the Republic — but to work 
out their own future as an integral and important part of the 



8 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

grandest Empire in the world. They had reason for making such 
an election. They believed that it was better for themselves 
and for their neighbours ; better for the cause of human liberty 
and true progress, that it should be so. But it is not necessary 
to discuss the reasons. No outside power has a right to pro- 
nounce upon them. The fact is enough, that, on this central 
point, the mind of British America, from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific, is fixed. But, to be united politically and disunited 
physically,, as the different parts of Prussia were for many a long 
year, is an anomaly only to be endured so long as it could not 
be helped ; and when, as in our case, the remedy is in our own 
hands, it is wise to secure the material union as soon as pos- 
sible. 

On the twentieth of July, 1871, British Columbia entered the 
Dominion. On the same day surveying parties left Victoria for 
various points of the Rocky Mountains, and from the Upper 
Ottawa westward, and all along the line surveys were commenced. 
Their reports were laid before the Canadian House of Commons 
in April, 1872. In the summer of the same year, Sandford 
Fleming, the Engineer in Chief, considered it necessary to 
travel overland, to see the main features of the country with 
his own eyes, and the writer of these pages accompanied him, as 
Secretary. The expedition started from Toronto on July 1 6th, 
and on October 14th, it left Victoria, Vancouver's Island "on the 
home stretch." During those three months a diary was kept of 
the chief things we saw or heard, and of the impressions which 
we formed respecting the country, as we journeyed from day to 
day and conversed with each other on the subject. The diary 
was not written for publication, or, if printed at all, was to have 
been for private circulation only. This will explain the little 
personal details that occur through it; for allusions and inci- 
dents that the public rightly consider trivial, are the most 
interesting items to the private circle. But those who had a right 



INTRODUCTORY. 9 

to speak in the matter said that the notes contained information 
that would be of interest to the general public, and of value to 
intending immigrants. They are therefore presented to the public, 
and they are given just as they were written so that others might 
see, as far as possible, a photograph of what we saw and thought 
from day to day. A more readable book could have been made 
by omitting some things, coloring others, and grouping the 
whole ; but, as already explained, the object was not to make a 
book. The expedition had special services to perform in connec- 
tion with one of the most gigantic public works ever undertaken 
in any country by any people ; it was organized and conducted 
in a business-like way, in order to get through without disaster 
or serious difficulty; it did not turn aside in search of adventures 
or of sport ; and therefore an exciting narrative of hair-breadth 
escapes and thrilling descriptions of "men whose heads do grow 
beneath their shoulders " need scarcely be expected. 



CHAPTER II. 
From Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Thunder Bay, Lake Superior. 

Halifax. — Intercolonial .Railway. — Moncton. — Miramichi. — Restigouche.— Matapedia.— 
Cacouna.— Lord Duff jrin— Riviere du Loup.— Quebec— Montreal.— Toronto-— Colling- 
wood.— A man overboard- —JyfQnSound..—Ste&nQr Frances Smith. — Provoking delays. 
— Killarney. — Indians. —Bruce Mines. — Sault Sto. Marie. — Lake Superior. — Sun- 
set— Full Moon. -Harbor of Gargantua.— Tbe Botanist.— Michipicoten Island.— 
Nepigon Buy. — Grand Scenery. —Sunday on Board —Silver Islet.— Prince Arthur's 
Landing. 

1st July, 1872. — To-day, three friends met in Halifax, and 
agreed to travel together through the Dominion from the Atlan- 
tic to the Pacific. All three had personal and business matters to 
arrange, requiring them to leave on different days, and reach the 
Upper Provinces by different routes. In these circumstances 
it was decided that Toronto should be the point of rendez-vous 
for the main journey to the Far West, and that the day of 
meeting should be the 15th of July. One proposed to take the 
steamer from Halifax to Portland, and go thence by the Grand 
Trunk Railway via Montreal ; another, to sail up the Gulf of 
St. Lawrence from Pictou to Quebec, (the most charming voyage 
in America for wretched half-baked mortals, escaping from the 
fierce heat of summer in inland cities) ; and it was the 
duty of the third— the chief of the party — to travel along the 
line of the Intercolonial Railway, now under construction* 
through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to its junction with 
the Grand Trunk in the Province of Quebec. This narrative 
follows the footsteps of the Chief, when more than one path is 
taken. But, though it was his duty to make a professional 
examination of all the engineering works in progress on the 
Intercolonial, — the Eastern link of that great arterial highway 
which is to connect, entirely through Canadian Territory, a 

(10) 



HALIFAX TO THUNDER BAY. II 

Canadian Atlantic port with a Canadian Pacific port, — the 
reader would scarcely be interested in a dry account of the 
culverts and bridges, built and building, the comparative merits 
of wooden and iron work, the pile-driving, the dredging, the 
excavating, the banking and blasting by over 10,000 workmen, 
scattered along 500 miles of road. The Intercolonial is to link, 
with rails of steel, the Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 
wick with the Province of Quebec ; the Grand Trunk unites 
Quebec and Ontario ; and the Canadian Pacific Railway is to 
connect the latter with Manitoba and British Columbia, as well 
as with the various unborn Provinces which, in the rapid progress 
of events, shall spring up in the intervening region. Bat the 
work of actual railway-construction is an old story ; and, if told 
at all, must be served up at some other time in some other way. 
The object of the present narrative is to give an account of what 
was observed and experienced in out-of-the-way places, over a 
vast extent of Canada little known even to Canadians. It will be 
sufficient for our purpose, therefore, to begin at Toronto, passing 
over all that may at any time be seen on the line from Halifax to 
Truro, and northerly across the Cobequid Mountains to Moncton. 
From Moncton, westward, there is much along the line worthy 
of description, but thousands of Railway tourists will see it 
all with their own eyes in a year or two ; — the deep forests of 
New Brunswick, the noble Miramichi river with its Railway 
bridging on a somewhat gigantic scale, the magnificent highland 
scenery of the Baie des Chaleurs, the Restigouche, and the 
wild mountain gorges of the Matapedia. But, without delaying 
even to catch a forty or fifty-pound salmon in the Restigouche, 
we hasten on with the Chief up the shores of the great St. Law- 
rence, hearing, as we pass Cacouna in the second week of July, 
a cheer of welcome to Lord DufTerin, the new Governor General, 
who had just landed with his family, escaping from the dust 
and heat of cities and the Niagara Volunteer Camp, to enjoy 



12 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

the saline atmosphere and sea bathing, which so many thousands 
of Her Majesty's subjects seek along the lower St. Lawrence 
at this season. At Riviere du Loup a Pullman Car receives 
us. Passing the cliffs of historic Quebec, we cross the broad 
St. Lawrence by that magnificent monument of early Canadian 
enterprise, that triumph of engineering skill, " The Victoria 
Bridge," opposite Montreal. Two days are necessarily spent at 
Ottawa in making final arrangements, and Toronto is reached 
at the time appointed for the rendez-vous. 

July 15th. — To-day, the various members of the overland 
expedition met at the Queen's Hotel the Chief, the Adjutant 
General, the boys, Frank and Hugh, the Doctor and the 
Secretary, and arranged to leave by the first train to-morrow 
morning. On the Chief devolved all the labor of preparation. 
The rest of us had little to do except to get ourselves photo- 
graphed in travelling costume. 

July 1 6th. — Took train for Collingwood, which is about a 
hundred miles due north from Toronto. The first half of the jour- 
ney, or as far as Lake Simcoe, is through a fair and fertile land ; too 
flat to be picturesque, but sufficiently rolling for farming purposes. 
Clumps of stately elms, with noble stems, shooting high before 
their fan shape commences, relieve the monotony of the scene. 
Here and there a field, dotted with huge pine stumps, shows 
the character of the old crop. The.forty or fifty miles nearest 
Georgian Bay have been settled more recently, but give as good 
promise to the settlers. Collingwood is an instance of what a 
railway terminus does for a place. Nineteen years ago, before 
the Northern Railway was built, an unbroken forest occupied its 
site, and the red deer came down through the woods to drink at 
the shore. Now, there is a thriving town of two or three thou- 
sand people, with steam saw-mills, and huge rafts from the North 
that almost fill up its little harbor, with a grain elevator which 
lifts out of steam barges the corn from Chicago, weighs it, and 



HALIFAX TO THUNDER BAY. 1 3 

pours it into railway freight- waggons to be hurried down to 
Toronto, and there turned into bread or whiskey, without a 
hand touching it in all its transportations or transformation, 
Around the town the country is being opened up, and the 
forest is giving way to pasture and corn-fields. West of the 
town is a range of hills, about one thousand feet high, originally 
thickly wooded to their summits, but now seamed with roads 
and interspersed with clearings. Probably none of us would have 
noticed them, though their beauty is enough to attract passing 
attention, had they not been pointed out as the highest " Moun- 
tains " in the great Province of Ontario ! 

We reached Collingwood at midday, and were informed that 
the steamer Frances Smith would start for Fort William, at 
two P.M. Great was the bustle, accordingly, in getting the bag- 
gage on board. In the hurry, the gangway was shoved out of its 
place, and when one of the porters rushed on it with a box, 
down it tilted, pitching him, head first, into the water 
between the pier and the steamer. We heard the splash, and 
ran, with half a dozen others, just in time to see his boots kick- 
ing frantically as they disappeared. " Oh it's that fool S ," 

laughed a bystander, " this is the second time he's tumbled in." 
" He can't swim," yelled two or three, clutching at ropes that were 
tied, trunks and other impossible life-preservers. In the meantime 

S rose, but, in rising, struck his head against a heavy float 

that almost filled the narrow space, and at once sank again, 
like a stone. He would have been drowned within six feet of 
the wharf, but for a tall, strong fellow, who rushed through the 
crowd, jumped in, and caught him as he rose a second time. 
S , like the fool he was said to be, returned the kind- 
ness by half throttling his would-be deliverer ; but other 
bystanders, springing on the float, got the two out. The 
rescuer swung lightly on to the wharf,, shook himself as if 
he had been a Newfoundland dog, and walked off; nobody 



14 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

seemed to notice him or to think that he deserved a word ol 
praise. On inquiring, we learned that he was a fisherman, — by- 
name, Alick Clark — on his way to the Upper Lakes, who, last 
summer also had jumped from the steamer's deck into Lake 
Superior, to save a child that had fallen overboard. Knowing 
that Canada had no Humane Society's medal to bestow, one oi 
our party ran to thank him and quietly to offer a slight gratuity ; 
but the plucky fellow refused to take anything, on the plea that 
he was a good swimmer and that his clothes hadn't been hurt. 
At two o'clock, it being officially announced that the steamer 
would not start until six, we strolled up to the town to buy suits 
of duck, which were said to be the only sure defence against 
mosquitoes of portentous size and power beyond Fort William. 
Meeting the Rector or Rural Dean, our Chief, learning that he 
would be a fellow-passenger, introduced the Doctor to him. 
The Doctor has not usually a positively funereal aspect, but the 
Rector assumed that he was the clergyman of the party and 
a D.D., and cottoned to him at once. When we returned to 
the steamer, and gathered round the tea table, the Rector 
nodded significantly in his direction : he, in dumb show, 
declined the honor ; the Rector pantomimed again, and with 
more decision of manner ; the Doctor blushed furiously, and 
looked so very much as if an " aith would relieve him," that the 
Chief, in compassion, passed round the cold beef without " a 
grace." We were very angry with him, as the whole party, 
doubtless, suffered in the Rector's estimation through his lack of 
resources. The doctor, however, was sensitive on the subject 
and threatened the secretary with a deprivation of sundry medical 
comforts, if he didn't in future attend to his own work. 

At six o'clock it was officially announced that the steamer 
would not start till midnight. Frank and Hugh got a boat 
and went trawling ; the rest of us were too disgusted to do 
even that, and so did nothing. 



HALIFAX TO THUNDER BAY. 1 5 

July 17th. — The Frances Smith left Collingwood at 5.30 
A.M. "We're all right now," exclaimed Hugh, and so the passen- 
gers thought, but they counted without their host or — captain. We 
steamed slowly round the Peninsula to Owen Sound, reaching it 
about eleven o'clock. The baggage here, could have been 
put on board in an hour, but five hours passed without 
sign of even getting up steam. In despair, we went in a body 
to the captain to remonstrate. He frankly agreed that it was 
"too bad," but disclaimed all responsibility, as the Government 
Inspector, on a number of trifling pleas, would not let him start, 
nor give him his certificate, — the real reason being that he was 
too virtuous ever to bribe inspectors. The deputation at once 
hunted up the Inspector, and heard the other side. He had 
ordered a safety-valve for the boilers and new sails a month 
before, but the captain had " humbugged," and done nothing. 
The valve was now being fitted on, the sails were being bent, and 
the steamer would be ready to start in half an hour. Clearly, the 
Inspector, in the interest of the travelling public, had only 
done his duty, and the captain was responsible for the provoking 
delays. We told him so, without phrases, when he promised to 
hurry up and get off quickly to and from Leith, — a port six 
miles from Owen Sound, where he had to take in wood. 

Leith was reached at 6.30, and we walked round the beach 
and had a swim, while two or three men set to work leisurely to 
carry on board a few sticks of wood from eight or ten cords piled 
on the wharf. At ten P.M., there being no signs of a start, some of 
us asked the reason and were told that the whole pile had to be 
put on board. The two or three laborers were lounging on 
the wharf with arms a-kimbo, and the captain was dancing in 
the eabin with some of the passengers, male and female, as 
unconcernedly as if all were out for a pic-nic. He looked some- 
what taken aback when the Chief called him aside, and asked if 
he commanded the boat, or if there was anybody in command ; 



l6 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

but, quickly rallying, he declared that everything was goin£ on 
splendidly. The Chief looked so thundery, however, that he 
hurried down stairs and ordered the men to " look alive ;" but 
as it would take the two or three laborers all night to stow the 
wood, half a dozen of the passengers volunteered to help, and the 
Royal Mail steamer got off two hours after midnight. 

An inauspicious beginning to our journey this ! Aided all 
the way by steam, we were not much more than one hundred 
miles in a direct line from Toronto, forty-four hours after start- 
ing. At this rate, when would we reach the Rocky Mountains ? 
To make matters worse, the subordinates seemed to have 
learned from their leader the trick of "how not to do it." 

Last night a thunder storm soured the milk on the boat, and 
though at the wharf, and within a few hundred yards of scores of 
dairies, it did not occur to the steward that he could send one of 
his boys for a fresh supply. To-day, after dinner, an enter- 
prising passenger asked for cheese with his beer, and of course 
did not get it, as nobody knew where it had been stowed. In a 
word the Frances Smith wanted a head, and, as the Scotch old 
maid lamented, " its an unco' thing to gang through the warld 
withoot a heid." 

June 1 8th. — To-day, our course was northerly through the 
Georgian Bay towards the Great Manitoulin Island. This 
island and some smaller ones stretching in an almost continuous 
line, westward, in the direction of Lake Superior, form, in 
connection with the Saugeen Peninsula, the barrier of land that 
separates the Georgian Bay from the mighty Lake Huron. 
These two great inland waters were one, long ago, when the 
earth was younger, but the water subsided, or Peninsula and 
Islands rose, and the one sea became two. Successive terraces 
on both sides of Owen Sound and on the different islands 
showed the old lake beaches, each now fringed with a firmer, 
darker, escarpment than the stony or sandy flats beneath, and 



^1 1 1 

111 

II, ill 




HALIFAX TO THUNDER BAY. 1 7 

marked the different levels to which the waters had gradually 
subsided. 

The day passed pleasantly, for, as progress was being made in 
the right direction, all the passengers willingly enjoyed them- 
selves, while on the two previous days they had only enjoyed 
the Briton's privilege of grumbling. Crossing the calm breadth 
of the Bay, past Lonely Island, we soon entered the Strait that 
extends for fifty miles between the North shore and Manitoulin. 
The contrast between the soft and rounded outlines of the Lower 
Silurian of Manitoujin and the rugged Laurentian hills, with 
their contorted sides and scarred foreheads, on the mainland 
opposite, was striking enough to evoke from a Yankee fel- 
low-passenger the exclamation, " Why, there's quite a scenery 
here !" The entrance to the Strait has been called Killarney* 
according to our absurd custom of discarding the musical, 
expressive, Indian names for ridiculously inappropriate, Euro- 
pean ones. Killarney is a little Indian settlement, with 
one or two Irish families to whom the place appears to owe 
very little more than its name. On the wharf is an unshingled 
shanty — " the store "—the entrepot for dry goods, hardware, gro- 
ceries, "Indian work," and everything else that the heart of man 
in Killarney can desire. As you look in at the door, a placard 
catches your attention, with 

LOOK HERE GENTS, 
English and Irish Vocuboxary, . 
for «ale here ; 

and, further in, another placard hangs on the wall with the 
Killarney Carpe Diem motto of 

TO-DAY FOR CASH AND 

TOM-MOREOTV FOE NOTHING. 

The Indians possessed, until lately, the whole of the Island of 
Manitoulin as well as the adjoining Peninsula; but, at a grand 



!8 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

pow wow, held with their Chiefs by Sir Edmtind Head, while 
Governor of Old Canada, it was agreed that they should, for 
certain annuities and other considerations, surrender all except 
tracts specially reserved for their permanent use. Some two 
thousand are settled around those shores. They are of the great 
Ojibbeway or Chippewa nation, — the nation that extends from 
the St. Lawrence to the Red River, where sections of them 
are called Salteaux and other names. West from the 
Red River to the Rocky Mountains, extend the next great 
nation of the Algonquin family, — the Crees. The languages of 
these two nations are so much alike, that Indians of the one 
nation can understand much of the speech of the other. The 
structure is simple, there being about a hundred and fifty mono- 
syllabic radical roots, the greater number of which are common to 
Ojibbeway and Cree, and on these roots the language has grown 
up. Most of the Ojibbeways on Manitoulin are Christianized. 
At one point on the Island, where the steamer called, we met 
Mr. Hurlburt, a Methodist Missionary, — a thoughtful, scholarly 
man — who has prepared, with infinite pains, a grammar of the 
language, and who gave us much interesting information. He 
honestly confessed that there was little, if any, difference in 
morals between the Christianized Indians around him and the 
two or three hundred who remain pagan ; that, in fact, the 
pagans considered themselves quite superior, and made the 
immorality of their Christian countrymen their great plea 
against changing from the old religion. 

July 19th. — This morning we entered a beautiful island- 
studded bay, on the north shore of which is the settlement 
round the Bruce and Wellington Copper Mines. The mines 
have been very productive, and give employment now to three or 
four hundred men and boys, whose habitations are, as is usually 
the case at mines, mere shanties. One, a little larger than the 
others, in which the "Gaffer" lives, is dignified with the title 



HALIFAX TO THUNDER BAY. 19 

of " Apsley House." From the Bruce Mines we sailed westerly 
through a channel almost as beautiful as where the St. Lawrence 
runs through the " thousand islands." A " silver streak of sea," 
glittering in the warm sun, filled with rounded islets of old Huro- 
nian rock, that sloped gently into the water at one point, or more 
abruptly at another, and offered every variety and convenience 
that the heart of bather could desire ; low, rugged, pine clad 
shores ; soft bays, here and there, with sandy beaches : all that is 
required to make the scene one of perfect beauty is a back-ground 
of high hills. Everywhere, through Ontario, we miss the mountain 
forms, without which all scenery is tame in the eyes of those who 
have once learned to see the perpetual beauty that clothes 
the everlasting hills. 

St. Joseph, Sugar, and Neebish Islands, now take the 
place of Manitoulin ; then we come to the Ste. Marie River, which 
leads up to Lake Superior, and forms the boundary line between 
the Dominion and the United States. At the Sault, or rapids of 
the river, there is a village on each side ; but, as the canal is on 
the United States side, the steamer crosses, to go through it to 
the great Lake. The canal has two locks, each three hundred 
and fifty feet long, seventy feet wide, twelve deep, and with a 
lift of nine feet. It is well and solidly built. The Federal 
Government has commenced the excavations for the channel of 
another. Though the necessity for two canals, on the same side, is 
not very apparent, still the United States Government, with its 
usual forethought, sees that the time will soon come when they 
shall be needed. The commerce on Lake Superior is increasing 
every year ; and it is desirable to have a canal, large enough for 
men-of-war and the largest steamers. We walked along the bank, 
and found, among the men engaged on the work, two or 
three Indians handling pick and shovel as if "to the manner 
born," and probably earning the ordinary wages of $2.25 per 
day. The rock is a loose and friable calciferous sandstone, red- 



20 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

dish-colored, and easily excavated. Hence the reason why 
the Sault Ste. Marie, instead of being a leap, flows down 
its eighteen feet of descent in a continuous rapid, wonderfully 
little broken except over loose boulders. The water is wear- 
ing away the rock every year. As it would be much easier to 
make a canal on the British side of the river, one ought to 
be commenced without delay. The most ordinary self-respect 
forbids that the entrance to our North-west should be wholly in 
the hands of another Power, a Power that, during the Riel dis- 
turbances at Red River, shut the entrance against even our 
merchant ships. In travelling from Ocean to Ocean through 
the Dominion, more than four thousand miles were all our own. 
Across this one mile, half-way on the great journey, every 
Canadian must pass on sufferance. The cost of a canal on our 
side is estimated, by the Canal Commissioners in a blue-book, 
dated February 2nd, 1 87 1, at only $550,000. Such a canal, and 
a Railway from Nepigon or Thunder Bay to Fort Garry, would 
give immediate and direct steam communication to our North 
West, within our own Territory. 

At the western terminus of the canal, the Ste. Marie River 
is again entered. Keeping to the north, or British side, we come 
to the Point aux Pins, covered with scrub pine (Pinus Banksiand) 
which extends away to the north from this latitude. Rounding 
the Point aux Pins, the river is two or three miles wide ; and, a 
few miles farther west, Capes Gros and Iroquois tower up 
on each side. These bold warders, called by Agassiz " the 
portals of Lake Superior," are over a thousand feet high ; 
and rugged, primeval Laurentian ranges stretch away from 
them as far back as the eye can reach. The sun is setting when 
we enter " the portals," and the scene well worthy the approach 
to the grandest lake on the globe. Overhead the sky is clear, 
and blue, but the sun has just emerged from huge clouds which 
are emptying their buckets in the west. Immediately around is 



m 






. 



i 



\ 



' 



. 







HALIFAX TO THUNDER BAY, 21 

a placid sea, with half a dozen steamers and three-masted 
schooners at different points. And now the clouds, massed into 
one, rush to meet us, as if in response to our rapid movement 
towards them, and envelope us in a squall and fierce driving rain, 
through which we see the sun setting, and lighting up, now with 
deep yellow and then with crimson glory, the fragments of 
clouds left behind in the west. In ten minutes the storm 
passes over us to the east, our sky clears as if by magic, and 
wind and rain are at an end. The sun sets, as if sinking into an 
ocean ; at the same moment the full moon rises behind us, and, 
under her mellow light, Lake Superior is entered. 

Those who have never seen Superior get an inadequate, even 
inaccurate idea, by hearing it spoken of as a ' lake,' and to 
those who have sailed over its vast extent the word sounds 
positively ludicrous. Though its waters are fresh and crystal, 
Superior is a sea. It breeds storms, and rain and fogs, like the 
sea. It is cold in mid-summer as the Atlantic. It is wild, master- 
ful, and dreaded as the Black Sea. 

July 20th. — Sailed all night along the N. E. coast of the 
great Lake, and in the mprning entered the land-locked harbour 
of Gargantua. 

Two or three days previously the Chief had noticed, among 
the passengers, a gentleman, out for his holidays on a botanical 
excursion to Thunder Bay, and, won by his enthusiasm, had 
engaged him to accompany the expedition. At whatever point 
the steamer touched, the first man on shore was the Botanist, 
scrambling over the rocks or diving into the woods, vasculum in 
hand, stuffing it full of mosses, ferns, lichens, liverworts, sedges, 
grasses, and flowers, till recalled by the whistle that the cap- 
tain always obligingly sounded for him. Of course such an 
enthusiast became known to all on board, especially to the 
sailors, who designated him as ' the man that gathers grass ' or, 
more briefly, ' the hay picker ' or • haymaker.' They regarded 



22 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

him, because of his scientific failing, with the respectful tolerance 
with which all fools in the East are regarded, and would wait 
an extra minute for him or help him on board, if the steamer 
were cast loose from the pier before he could scramble up the side. 

This morning the first object that met our eyes, on looking 
out of the -window of the state-room, was our Botanist, on the 
highest peak of the rugged hills that enclose the harbour of 
Gargantua. Here was proof that we, too, had time to go ashore, 
and most of us hurried off for a ramble along the beach, or for a 
swim, or to climb one of the wooded rocky heights. Every day 
since leaving Toronto we had enjoyed our dip ; for the captain 
was not a man to be hurried at any place of call, and, annoyed 
though our party were at the needlessly long delays, there was 
no reason to punish ourselves by not taking advantage of them 
occasionally. 

Half a dozen fishermen, Alick Clark among them, had 
come from Collingwood to fish in Superior for white fish 
and salmon trout, and having fixed on Gargantua for sum- 
mer head-quarters, they were now getting out their luggage, 
nets, salt, barrels, boats, &c. We . went ashore in one of 
their boats, and could not help congratulating them heartily 
on the beauty of the site they had chosen. The harbour is 
a perfect oblong, land-locked by hills three or four hundred 
feet high on every side except the entrance and the upper end, 
where a beautiful beach slopes gradually back into a level of 
considerable extent. The beach was covered with the maritime 
vetch or wild pea in flower, and beach grasses of various kinds. 
When the Botanist came down to the shore, he was in raptures 
over sundry rare mosses, and beautiful specimens of Aspidium 
fragrans, Woodsia hyperborea, Cystopteris montana, and other 
rare ferms, that he had gathered. The view from the summit 
away to the north, he described as a sea of rugged Laurentian 
hills covered with thick woods. 



HALIFAX TO THUNDER BAY. 23 

From Gargantua, the captain, who now seemed slightly 
conscious that time had been lost, steered direct for Michipi- 
coten Island. In the cozy harbour of this Island, the S.S 
Manitoba lay beached, having run aground two or three days 
before, and a little tug was doing its best to haul her off the 
rock or out of the mud. For three hours the Frances Smith added 
her efforts to those of the tug, but without success, and had to give 
it up, and leave her consort stranded. In the meantime some of 
the passengers went off with the Botanist to collect ferns and 
mosses. He led them a rare chase over rocks and through 
woods, being always on the look out for the places that promised 
the rarest kinds, quite indifferent to the toil or danger. The 
sight of a perpendicular face of rock, either dry or dripping 
with moisture, drew him like a magnet, and, with yells of 
triumph, he would summon the others to come and behold the 
treasure he had lit upon. Scrambling, puffing, rubbing their 
shins against the rocks, and- half breaking their necks, they toiled 
painfully after him, only to find him on his knees before some 
"thing of beauty" that seemed to them little different from what 
they had passed by with indifference thousands cu* times. But if 
they could not honestly admire the moss, or believe that it was 
worth going through so much to get so little, they admired 
the enthusiasm, and it proved so infectious that, before many 
days, almost every one of the passengers was bitten with 
1 the grass mania,' or ' hay fever/ and had begun to form "collec- 
tions." 

July 2 1 st. — Sunday morning dawned calm and clear. The 
Rural Dean read a short service and preached. After dinner we 
entered Nepigon Bay, probably the largest, deepest, safest, and 
certainly the most beautiful harbour on Lake Superior. It is 
shut off from the Lake by half a dozen Islands, of which the 
largest is St. Ignace— that seem to have been placed there on 
purpose to act as break-waters against the mighty waves of the 



24 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

Lake, and form a safe harbour ; while, inside, other Islands 
are set here and there, as if for defence or to break the force 
of the waves of the Bay itself; for it is a stretch of more 
than thirty miles from the entrance to the point where Nepigon 
River discharges into the Bay, in a fast flowing current, the 
waters of Nepigon Lake which lies forty miles to the north. The 
country between the Bay and the Lake having been found 
extremely unfavourable for Railway construction, it will probably 
be necessary to carry the Canadian Pacific Railway farther 
inland, but there must be a branch line to Nepigon Bay, which 
will then be the summer terminus for the traffic from the West, 
(unless Thunder Bay gets the start of it) just as Duluth is the 
terminus of the " Northern Pacific." 

The scenery of Nepigon Bay is of the grandest description ; 

there is nothing like it in Ontario. Entering from the east 

we pass up a broad strait, and can soon take our choice 

of deep and capacious channels, formed by the bold ridges 

of the Islands that stud the Bay. Bluffs, from three hundred 

to one thousand feet high, rise up from the waters, some of 

them bare from lake to summit, others clad with graceful 

balsams. On the mainland, sloping and broken hills stretch 

far away, and the deep shadows that rest on them bring 

out the most distant in clear and full relief. The time will come 

when the wealthy men of our great North-west will have their 

summer residences on these hills and shores ; nor could the 

heart of man desire more lovely sites. At the river is an old 

Hudson Bay station, and the head-quarters of several surveying 

parties for the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Chief, therefore^ 

has business here, and the Doctor also finds some ready to 

his hand, for one of the engineers in charge is seriously ill ; 

but the captain can spare only an hour, as he wishes to be out 

of the Bay by the western Channel, which is much narrower than 

the eastern, before dark. We leave at 5.30, and are in Lake 



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* 'P 



-jpTTT 










MM 







HALIFAX TO THUNDER BAY. 25 

Superior again at 8.30. The passengers, being anxious for an 
evening informal service, the captain and the Rural Dean 
requested our secretary to conduct it. He consented, and used, 
on the occasion, a form compiled last year specially for surveying 
parties. The scene was unusual, and perhaps, therefore, all the 
more impressive. Our Secretary, dressed in grey homespun, 
read a service compiled by clergymen of the Churches of Rome, 
England and Scotland ; no one could tell which part was 
Roman, which Anglican or which Scottish, and yet it was all 
Christian. The responses were led by the Dean and the Doctor, 
and joined in heartily by Romanists, Episcopalians, Baptists, 
Methodists and Presbyterians; for there were sixty or seventy 
passengers present, and all those denominations were included in 
the number. The hymns were, — " Rock of Ages " and " Sun 
of my Soul ;" these, with the " Gloria Patri" were accom- 
panied on a piano by a young lady who had acted for years 
as the leader of a choir in a small Episcopal Chapel, and she was 
supported, right and left, by a Presbyterian and a Baptist. The 
sermon was short, but, according to the Doctor, would "have been 
better, if it had been shorter ;" but all listened attentively, and no 
one could tell from it to what particular Church the preacher 
belonged. The effect of the whole was excellent ; when the ser- 
vice was over, many remained in the saloon to sing, converse, 
or join in sacred music, and the evening passed delightfully away. 
The ice was broken ; ladies and gentlemen, who had kept aloof 
all the week, addressed each other freely, without waiting to be 
introduced, and all began now to express sorrow that they 
were to part so soon. It was near the " wee sma' hour " before 
the pleasant groups in the saloon separated for the night. 

At one, A. M., we arrived at u Silver Island," — a little bit of 
rock in a Bay studied with islets. The most wonderful vein of 
silver in the world has been struck here. Last year, thirty men 
took out from it $1,200,000; and competent judges say that, in 



2$ OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

all probability, the mine h worth hundreds of millions. The 
original $50 shares now sell for $25,000. The company that 
works it is chiefly a New York one, though it was held originally 
by Montreal men, and was offered for sale in London for a trifle. 
Such a marvellous " find " as this has stimulated search in 
every other direction around Lake Superior. Other veins have 
been discovered, some of them paying well, and, of course, the 
probability is that there are many more undiscovered ; for not 
one hundredth part of the mineral region of Lake Superior has 
been examined yet, and it would be strange indeed if all the 
minerals had been stumbled on at the outset. Those rocky 
shores are, perhaps, the richest part of the whole Dominion. 

During the halt at Silver Island we went to bed, knowing that 
the steamer would arrive at Thunder Bay early in the morning. 
So ended the first half of our journey from Toronto to Fort Garry, 
by rail ninety-four miles, by steamboat five hundred and thirty 
miles. The second half would be by waggons and canoes ; — wag- 
gons at the beginning and end ; and, in the middle, canoes paddled 
by Indians or tugged by steam launches over a chain of lakes, 
extending like a net work in all directions along the watershed 
that separates the basin of the great Lakes and St. Lawrence 
from the vast Northern basin of Hudson's Bay. The unneces- 
sary delays of the Frances Smith on this first part of our 
journey had been provoking ; but the real amari aliquid was the 
Sault Ste. Marie Canal. The United States own the southern 
shores of Superior, and have therefore only done their duty in 
constructing a canal on their side of the Ste. Marie River. The 
Dominion not only owns the northern shores, but the easier 
access to its great North-west is by this route ; a canal on its 
side is thus doubly necessary. The eastern key to two-thirds 
of the Dominion is meanwhile in the hands of another Power ; 
and yet, if there ought to be only one gateway into Lake Supe- 
rior, nature has declared that it should be on our side. So 



HALIFAX TO THUNDER BAY. 27 

long ago as the end of the last century, a rude canal, capable of 
floating large loaded canoes without breaking bulk, existed on 
our side of the river.* The report of a N. W. Navigation 
Company in 1858 gives the length of a ship canal around the 
Ste. Marie rapids on the Canadian side as only 838 yards, while on 
the opposite side the length is a mile and one-seventh. In the 
interests of peace and commerce, and because it would be a 
convenience to trade now and may be ere long an absolute 
national necessity, let us have our own roadway across that 
short half mile. Canada can already boast of the finest ship 
canal system in the world ; this trifling addition would be the 
crowning work, and complete her inland water communication 
from the Ocean, westerly, across thirty degrees of longitude to 
the far end of Lake Superior. 

(*) May 30th (1800) Friday, Sanlfc Ste. Mario. Here the North- West Company have 
another establishment on the North side of the Hapid. * * * Here tho North- West 
Company have built locks, in order to tako up loaded canoes, that they may not be tinder 
tho necessity of carrying them by land, to tho head of the Rapid, for the current is too 
Strong to be stemmod by any oraft.— Harmon's Journal. 



CHAPTER III. 

From Thunder Bay to Fort Garry. 

Shebandowan Road —Rich Vegetation.— Rivers Kaministiquia and Matawan.— Sheban- 
dowan Lake.— Luggage.— Emigrants.— Canoo train.— Iroquois Indians.— Sir George 
Simpson's guide.— Lake Kashaboiwe.— The Height of Land.— Lao des Mille Lacs.— 
Baril portage and Lake.— First night under canvas.— Lako Windigostigwan.— Indian 
encampment.— Chief Blackstone's wives. —The Medicine-man.— Lake Kaogassikok.— 
Shooting Maligne rapids. — Lake Nequaquon. — Loon portage. — Mud portago. — 
American portage.— Lake Nameukan.— Rainy Lako.— Fort Franois.— Rainy River.— 
Hungry Hall.— Slap-jacks.— Lake of tho Woods.— Tho North West Angle— A tough 
night.— Oak point.— First glimpse of tho prairies.— Floral treasures.;— The Dawson 
route.— Red River. 

July 22nd. — At 5 A. M., arrived at Prince Arthur's Landing, 
Thunder Bay, about four miles from the Kaministiquia river, 
a fine open harbour, with dark cliffs of basaltic rock and 
island scenery second only to Nepigon. Population is flowing 
rapidly to these shores of Lake Superior. Already more than a 
hundred stores, shanties, or houses are scattered about ' the 
Landing.' The chief business is silver mining, and prospecting 
for silver, copper, galena, and other valuable minerals known to 
exist in the neighbourhood. 

The engineer of the surveying parties between Ottawa and 
Red River, and the assistant superintendent of the Dawson 
Route to Fort Garry met us at the Landing and invited us to 
breakfast in their shanty. After breakfast, our baggage was 
packed on a heavy waggon, and instructions were given to the 
driver to keep moving till he reached Shebandowan Lake, the 
first of the chain to be traversed in canoes. 

Shebandowan is forty-five miles from Lake Superior, about 800 
feet higher, and near the summit or watershed of the district. At 
10.30 A. M., we started for that point, the Chief and the Doctor in 
a buggy, the others in a light waggon. Drove in three hours to 



THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 29 

" fifteen-mile shanty " through a rolling country with a steady 
upward incline, lightly wooded for the first half and more heavily 
for the latter half of the distance. The flora is much the 
same as in our Eastern Provinces ; the soil light, with a 
surface covering of peaty or sandy loam, and a subsoil of 
clay, fairly fertile and capable of being easily cleared. The 
vegetation is varied, wild fruits being especially abundant, — rasp- 
berries, currants, gooseberries, and tomatoes ; flowers like the 
convolvulus, roses, a great profusion of asters, wild kallas, water- 
lilies on the ponds, wild chives on the rocks in the streams, and 
generally a rich vegetation. It is a good country for emigrants 
of the farmer class. The road, too, is first rate, a great point for 
the settler ; and a market is near. Whatever a settler raises he 
can easily transport to the ready market that there always is 
near mines. Miners are not particular about their lodging, but 
good food and plenty of it they must have. 

At the " fifteen-mile shanty," we stopped for an hour and a 
half to feed the horses, and to dine. A Scotchman from Alloa, 
Robert Bowie, was " boss of the shanty," and gave us the best 
dinner we had eaten since leaving Toronto ; — broth, beaf-steak, 
bread, and tea. The bread, light and sweet as Paris rolls, was 
baked in Dutch ovens, buried in the hot embers of a huge fire 
outside, near the door, and Robert accepted the shower of 
compliments on its quality with the canny admission that there 
were " waur bakers in the warld than himsel'." 

We walked on for the next three or four miles till the waggon 
overtook us. The soil became richer, the timber heavier, and the 
whole vegetation more luxuriant. Six miles from the fifteen- 
mile shanty we crossed the Kaministiquia — a broad and rapid 
river, — which, at this point, is, by its own course, forty-five miles 
distant from where it falls into Lake Superior. The valley of the 
river is acknowledged to be a splendid farming country. A squat- 
ter, who had pitched camp at the bridge end last year, on his way 



30 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

to Red River, and had remained instead of going on because 
everything was so favourable, came up to have a talk with us, and 
to grumble, like a true Briton, that the Government wasn't doing 
more for him. Timothy was growing to the height of four and five 
feet, on every vacant spot, from chance seeus. A bushel and 
a-half of barley, which seemed to be all that he had sown, was 
looking as if it could take the prize at an Ontario Exhibition. 

The soil, for the next five miles, was covered luxuriantly with 
the vetch, or wild pea. The road led to the Matawan, — a 
stream that runs out of Lake Shebandowan into the Kami- 
nistiquia. Both rivers are crossed by capital bridges. The 
station at the Matawan was in charge of a Mr. Aitken and 
his family, from Glengarry. He had arrived exactly two months 
ago, on the 22nd of May, and he had now oats and barley up, 
potatoes in blossom, turnips, lettuce, parsnips, cucumbers, etc., 
all looking healthy, and all growing on land that, sixty days 
before, had been in part covered with undergrowth, stumps, 
and tall trees, through which fires had run the year previous. 
Mr. Aitken was in love with the country, and, what was of 
more consequence, so was Mrs. Aitken, though she confessed to 
a longing for some " neighbours." They intended to make it 
their future home, and said that they had never seen land so 
well suited for farming. Everything was prospering with them. 
The very hens seemed to do better here than elsewhere. One 
was pointed out with a brood of twenty strong healthy chickens 
around her ; Guinea hens and turkeys looked thriving. 

Everything about this part of country, so far, has astonished us. 
Our former ideas concerning it had been that it was a barren 
desert ; that there was only a horse trail, and not always that, to 
travel by ; that the mosquitoes were as big as grasshoppers, and 
bit through everything. Whereas, it is a fair and fertile land, 
undulating from the intervales of the rivers up to hills and 
rocks eight hundred feet high. The road through it is good 



r 

sl 



1 



--> •• gl 




THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 3 1 

enough for a king's highway, and the mosquitoes are not more 
vicious than in the woods and by the ^streams of the Lower 
Provinces ; yet this fine land is wholly untaken up. Not 
half a dozen settlers are on the road for the first twenty-six 
miles ; and for the next twenty, not half that number. How 
many cottars, small farmers, and plough boys in Britain, 
would rejoice to know that they could get a hundred acres of 
such land for one dollar an acre, money down ; or at twenty 
cents per acre after five years settlement on it ! They could 
settle along the high road, take their produce to a good market, 
and be independent landholders in five years. This was the 
information about the price of land that the settlers gave us. 
Why " free " grants are not offered, as in other parts of Ontario 
or in Manitoba, it is impossible to say. 

From the Matawan to Shebandowan lake was the next stage, 
twenty miles long. We passed over most of it in the dark, 
but could see, from the poor timber and other indications, that 
the latter half was not at all as good as the first. The road 
was heavy, varying between corduroy, deep sand, and rutty 
and rooty stretches, over which the waggon jolted frightfully. 
Though the colonel beguiled the way with many a story of the 
wars, all were tired and ready for bed by the time the Lake 
was reached. 

So passed the first day of our expedition, for we counted 
that the journey only began at Thunder Bay. We had been 
twelve hours on the road ; but, as the day had been cool and 
showery, did we not feel over-fatigued on arriving at Sheban- 
dowan. An old-countryman, Morris, was in charge of the 
shanty. He had given up his kitchen to half a dozen emigrants 
who were going on in the morning to Red River, and had 
reserved beds for us in little nooks upstairs. 

July 23rd. — Rose at sunrise, and found, much to our disgust, 
that the baggage waggon had not arrived. An hour after, 



32 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

however, it came in, and, along with it, two young gentlemen, 
M.... and L.... with a canoe and Indians on their way to 
Red River. They were travelling for pleasure, and, as they had 
been on the road all night, and were tired, seedy and, mosquito- 
bitten, they represented very fairly, in their own persons, the 
Anglo-Saxon idea of pleasure. 

At Shebandowan all our luggage was now gathered on the 
wharf, to be stowed in the canoes which were to carry us 
westerly for the next three hundred and eighty miles, along 
the chain of lakes. The Chief looked hard at the united heap, 
and then proposed that Morris should take charge or possession 
of all that could be dispensed with ; and that, before we left Fort 
Garry, only a certain number of pounds-weight should be allowed 
to each. Much luggage is a nuisance, even where there are 
railways, especially if extra weight has to be paid for ; but it is 
simply intolerable where frequent portages intervene, over which 
everything has to be carried on men's backs. Morris made no 
objection to the Chief's proposal, and it was carried nem. con. 

At 8 A. M., the baggage having been stowed in the canoes, 
the Indians paddled out, and hooked on to a little steam tug, 
kept on the lake for towing purposes : a line was formed, the 
word given, and, after a few preliminary puffings, the start was 
made and we proceeded along the lake. The mode of locomo- 
tion was, to us, altogether new, and as charming as it was pictu- 
resque. The tug led the way at the rate of seven knots, towing, 
first a large barge with immigrants, second a five-fathom canoe 
with three of our party and seven Indians, third a four-fathom 
canoe with two of us and six Indians, fourth same as number 
three, fifth M. . . . and L. . . ,'s canoe. We glided along with a 
delightful motion, sitting on our baggage in the bottoms of the 
canoes. The morning was dull and grey, and the shores of the 
lake looked sterile and fire-swept, with abundant indications 
of mineral wealth. Gold and silver have been found at Sheban- 



THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 33 

dowan, and prospecting parties are now searching all accessible 
spots. 

Our Indians were Iroquois, from Caughnawaga, near Montreal, 
and a few native Ojibbeways. Their leader was Ignace 
Mentour, who had been Sir George Simpson's guide for 
fifteen years; and the steersman of his canoe was Louis, 
who had been cook to Sir George on his expeditions, and 
looked every inch the butler of a respectable English family ; 
we fell in love with him and Ignace from the first ; another 
of the Iroquois had been one of the party which sought 
for Franklin by going down the McKenzie River to the 
Arctic Sea. Two old pupils of Ignace, named respectively 
Baptiste and Toma, were the captains of the two smaller canoes ; 
they were all sinewy, active, good looking men. Ignace's hair 
was grey, but he was still as strong as any of the young men; he 
paddled in the bow of the big canoe, leading the way, and quietly 
chewed tobacco the whole time. In his young days he had 
been a famous runner, and had won foot races in every town on 
both sides of the St. Lawrence. These Iroquois, and most of 
the Ojibbeways we have met, are men above the medium size, 
broad shouldered, with straight features, intelligent faces, and 
graceful, because natural, bearing. 

At the west end of the lake we came to a camp of seventy 
or eighty Ojibbeways — two-thirds of them children; — they had 
been there for three weeks, of course doing nothing for a living ; 
more were expected, and, when all would have assembled, a 
grand pow-wow would be held, at which a Treaty was to be made 
between them and the Indian Commissioner of the Dominion, by 
which they were to cede, for a consideration, all their rights to the 
land, that would hinder settlers from coming in. Poor creatures ! 
not much use have they ever made ox the land ; but yet, in admit- 
ting the settler, they sign their own death warrants. Who, but they, 
have a right to the country ; and if " a man may do what he 



34 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

likes with his own," would they not be justified in refusing to 
admit one of us to their lakes and woods, and fighting us to the 
death on that issue ? But it is too late to argue the question ; 
the red man, with his virtues and his vices, — lauded by some as 
so dignified, abused by others as so dirty — is being civilised off 
the ground. In the United States they have, as a rule, dealt 
with him more summarily than in British America, but it comes 
to pretty much the same in the end, whether he is " improved 
off," or shot down at once as a nuisance. His wild, wandering 
life is inconsistent with modern requirements : these vasi 
regions were surely meant to maintain more than a few thousand 
Ojibbeways. 

Three hours steaming brought our flotilla to the west end of 
the lake. A portage of three quarters of a mile intervenes 
between it and Lake Kashaboiwe. The Indians emptied the 
canoes in a trice ; two shouldered a canoe, weighing probably 
three hundred pounds, and made off at a rapid trot across the 
portage. The others loaded the waggon of the station with the 
luggage, and carried on their backs, by a strap passed over their 
foreheads, what the waggon could not take. This portage-strap 
is three or four inches broad in the middle, where it is adjusted 
to the forehead : its great advantage to the voyageur is that 
it leaves him the free use of his arms in going through the woods. 
A tug had been placed on Kashaboiwe, but, as the machinery 
was out of gear, the Indians paddled over the lake, doing the 
ten miles of its length in two hours. The wood on this lake is 
heavier than on Shebandowan : poplars, white birch, red, white 
and scrub pine, all shew well. The second portage is between 
Kashaboiwe and Lac des Mille Lacs, and is called " Height of 
Land," as the water here begins to run north and west instead of 
east and south. The lakes, after this, empty at their west ends. 
At the east end of Lac des Mille Lacs, a little stream three 
yards wide, that flows in a tortuous channel with gentle current 



THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 35 

into the lake, eventually finds its way to Hudson's Bay. The 
" Height of Land " is about a thousand feet above Lake 
Superior. 

We now entered a lovely lake, twenty-two miles long ; its 
name explains its characteristic. As the steam launch, stationed 
on it. happened, unfortunately, to be at the west end, the 
Indians again paddled the canoes for about four miles, when we 
met the launch coming back ; it at once turned about and took 
us in tow. After a smart shower the sky cleared, and the sun 
shone on innumerable bays, creeks, channels, headlands and 
islets, which are simply larger or smaller rocks of granite covered 
with moss and wooded to the water's brink. Through these laby- 
rinths we threaded our way, often wondering that the wrong 
passage was never taken, where there were so many exactly 
alike. Fortunately, the fire-demon has not devasted these 
shores. The timber, in some places, is heavy ; pine, aspen, and 
birch being the prevailing varieties. Every islet in the lake 
is wooded down to the water's edge. Our Botanist, though 
finding few new species, exulted in his holiday and looked 
forward, with eager hope, to the flora of the plains. "This expe- 
dition," he said, " is going to give me a lift that will put me at 
the head of the whole brigade ;" but, as we drew near our third 
portage for the day, his face clouded. " Look at the ground, 
burnt again." One asked if it was the great waste of wood 
he referred to. " It's not that, but, they have burned the very 
spot for botanizing over." What is a site for shanty and clearing, 
compared to Botany ! At the end of Lac des Alille Lacs is Baril 

Portage, less than a quarter of a mile long. M and L 

resolved to camp here, as they had had no sleep the previous night 
and their Indians were tired ; but, though the sun was only 
an hour high, we resolved to complete our programme, by doing 
the next lake, Baril. No steamer has been put on this lake ; 
but the Indians paddled over its eight miles of length in an hour 



36 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

and forty minutes. The bluffs around Baril are bolder than 
those rising from the previous lakes, and the vegetation very- 
similar. We hurried over the next portage, and, at the other 
end met the station-keeper, who had a comfortable tent pitched 
for the emigrants, strewn with fragrant pine and spruce branches. 

It was impossible to avoid admiring the activity and cheerful- 
ness with which our Indians worked. Their canoes were attended 
to, as well as the baggage, in half the time that ordinary servants 
would have taken. They would carry as heavy a load as a 
Constantinople porter, at a rapid trot across the portage, run 
back for another load without a minute's halt, and so on till all 
the luggage was portaged, and everything in readiness for start- 
ing on the next lake. 

A fire was quickly kindled, and search made for the eatables, 
blankets and everything needed for the night, when the dis- 
covery was made that, though the colonel had his blankets and 
the botanist his pair, a big package with the main supply had been 
left behind, very probably as far back as the " Height of Land." 
The frizzling of the ham in the frying pan, and the delicious 
fragrance of the tea, made us forget the loss for the time. 
We all sat around the fire, gipsy-like, enjoying our first 
gipsy meal, and very soon after threw ourselves down on the 
water-proof, that covered the sweet-smelling floor of the tent, 
and slept the sleep of the just. 

July 20th. — The Chief awoke us in the grey misty dawn. It 
took more than a little shaking to awaken the boys ; but the 
botanist had gone off, no one knew when, in search of new 
species. As we emerged from our tent, Louis and Baptiste 
appeared from theirs, and kindled the fire. They next unrolled 
a lump of scented soap, brush and comb ; went down to the 
stream, washed and made their toilettes, and then set to 
work to prepare for breakfast, ham, beefsteak, bread and tea. It 
never seemed to occur to our Ojibbeways to wash, crop, or 






THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 37 

dress their hair. They let it grow, at its own sweet will, all 
around their faces and down their necks, lank, straight and stiff, 
helping the growth with fish oil ; whereas, every one of the 
Iroquois had "a good head of hair," thick, well cropped, and, 
though always black, quite like the hair of a civilized man 
instead of a savage. Oar Ojibbeways had silver rings on their 
fingers, broad gaudy sashes and bedraggled feathers bound 
round their felt hats. The Iroquois dressed as simply and neatly 
as " blue jackets." 

It had been chilly through the night, and the cold mist clung 
heavily to the ground in the morning. The air is colder than 
the water from evening till morning. Hence the evening and 
morning mists, which disappear an hour or two after sunrise, 
rise and form into clouds, which, sooner or later, empty them- 
selves back again on the land or lakes. 

After breakfast we embarked on the mist- covered river that 
runs into Lake Windegoostigwan. The sun soon cleared away the 
mists and we glided on pleasantly, down long reaches of lake, 
and through narrow, winding, reedy passages, past curved 
shores, hidden by rank vegetation, and naked bluffs and islets 
covered with clumps of pines. Not a word fell from the Indians' 
lips, as they paddled with all the ease and regularity of machi- 
nery. The air was delightful, and all felt as if out on a holiday. 
In three hours the fifteen miles of Windegoostigwan were 
crossed, and we came to a portage nearly two miles long. This 
detained us three hours, as the waggon had to make two 
trips from lake to lake, over a new road, with our luggage. 

A man from Glengarry, Ontario, was in charge of the portage; 
he had lived here all winter, and said that he far preferred the 
winter weather to that of the Eastern Provinces. Great as 
is the summer rain-fall, it is quite Idifferent in winter ; then 
the days are clear and cloudless, and so sunny and pleasant 
that he was accustomed to go about in his summer clothing, 



/ 



33 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

except in the mornings and evenings. Three feet of snow fell in 
the woods after Christmas, and continued dry and powdery till 
April, when it commenced to melt, and soon after the middle of 
May it was all gone, and vegetation began to show itself at 
once. 

At the west end of the portage is a small encampment of 
Ojibbeways, around the wigwam of Blackstone, said to be 
their most eloquent chief, and accordingly set down as " a great 
rascal " by those who cannot conceive of Indians as having rights, 
or tribal or patriotic feelings. He was absent, but we saw one 
of his three wives sitting on a log, with two or three papooses 
hanging round her neck, and his oldest son, a stout young 
fellow, who could not speak a word of English or French, but who 
managed to let us know that he was sick. The Doctor was 
called, and he made out that the lad had a pain in his back, but, 
not being able to diagnose more particularly, was at a loss what 
to do for him. Our Chief suggested a bit of tobacco, but the 
Doctor took no notice of the profane proposal ; luckily enough, 
or the whole tribe would have been sick when the next " Medi- 
cine-man " passed their way. Blackstone's wife was not more 
comely than any of the other Indian women ; that is, she was 
dirty, joyless-looking and prematurely old. All the hard work 
fills to the lot of the women : the husband hunts, fishes, 
paddles, or does any other work that a " gentleman " feels he 
can do without degradation ; his wife is something better than 
his dog, and faithfully will he share with her his last morsel ; 
but it's only a dog's life that she has. 

Our next lake was Kao^assikok, sixteen miles loner. The 
shores of this, too, were lined with good-sized pine, white, red, 
and scrub. To-day more larch and cedar shewed among the 
birch and pine than yesterday. When the country is opened up, 
all this timber will be very valuable, as sleepers and ties for the 
Pacific Railway, and lumber, for building purposes, can be 



THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 39 

obtained here in abundance, if nowhere nearer the plains. The 
trees can be cut down at the water's edge, rafted, and sent 
by water to Winnipeg. Numbers of fine trees are now growing 
in the water; for, by damming up the outflow of the lakes to make 
the landing places, the water level has been raised and the shore 
trees have thus been submerged several feet. They will rot, in 
consequence, and fall into the lakes sooner or later, and 
perhaps obstruct the narrow channels. The timber gets heavier 
as we go on ; at the west of Kaogassikok are scrub pines, 
three feet in diameter ; but, unfortunately, about one-third of 
them are punky or hollow. Here are two portages, Pine and 
Deux Rivieres, separated by only two miles of water ; conse- 
quently much detention owing to our magnificent quantities of 
bao-crage. Two Indians, suffering front dysentery, applied for 
relief at Pine Portage, and received it at the hands of the 
Doctor : he has already had about a dozen " cases," either of 
white or red men, since we left Owen Sound. The first two were 
at Nepigon, one the engineer, and the other a dying man, 
carried on board the steamer there, to be taken home, and who 
was also kindly ministered to by the captain and one or two of 
the lady passengers. Our party have, thus far, received little 
at the Doctor's hands, sundry "medical comforts" always 
excepted. 

After paddling over four miles of the next lake the Indians 
advised camping, though the sun was more than an hour high. 
As we had experienced the discomforts of camping in the dark 
the night before, and as the men were evidently tired, we landed 
and pitched the tents on a rocky promontory at the foot of a 

wooded hill. Scarcely were our fires lighted, when M 's 

canoe came up, and then another with a stray Indian, his 
wife, papooses, dog — that looked half wolf — and all their traps. 
After a good swim, we sat down to our evening meal, which 
Louis had spread on a clean table-cloth on the sward. In front 



40 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

of us was the smooth lake ; on the other side of it, two miles off, 
the sun was going down in the woods. The country ahead 
broke into knolls, looking in many parts like cultivated 
parks ; around us the white tents and the ruddy fires, with 
Indians flitting between, or busy about the canoes, gave anima- 
tion to the scene and made up a picture that will long live irvthe 
memory of many of us. 

The Indians never halt without, at once, turning their canoes 
upside down, and examining them. The seams and crevices in 
the birch bark yield at any extra strain, and scratches are made 
by submerged brushwood in some of the channels or the shallow 
parts of the lakes. These crevices they carefully daub over with 
resin, which is obtained from the red pine, till the bottom of an 
old canoe becomes almost covered with a black resinous coat. 

The stray Indian pitched camp an hundred yards off from 
us ; and, with true Indian dignity, did not come near to ask for 
anything, though quite equal to take anything that was offered 
or left behind. 

July 25th. — Up before four A. M., and, after a cup of hot tea, 
started in excellent spirits. Our three canoes had tried a race 
the night before, over the last four miles of the day's journey, 
and they renewed it this morning. The best crew was in 
the five-fathom boat, of which Ignace was captain and Louis 
steersman. The captains of the other two, Baptiste and Toma, 
I ushed their old master hard to-day ; as one or the other stole 
ahead, not a glance did Ignace give to either. Doggedly, and 
with averted head, he dug his paddle deeper in the water 
and pegged away with his sure steady stroke, and though the 
others, by spurting, forced themselves halt-a-canoe-length ahead 
at times, they had not the stay of the older men, and every race 
ended with Ignace leading. Then he would look up and with 
sunshine on his broad, handsome face throw a good humoured 
joke back ; which the others would catch up with great glee 



THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 41 

These races often broke the monotony of the day, " Up, up," 
or " hi, hi," would break suddenly from one of the canoes that 
had fallen behind. Everyone answered with quickened stroke 
that sent it abreast of the others. Then came the tug of war. The 
graceful, gondola-shaped canoes cut through the water as though 
impelled by steam. The Buffalo, or Ignace's canoe, — so called 
from the figure of an Indian with a gun, standing before a buffalo, 
that he had painted on the bow — always led at the first; but often 
the Sun, Baptiste's lighter craft, would shoot ahead, and some- 
times Toma's, the Beaver, under the frantic efforts of her crew, 
seconded by one or two of us snatching up a paddle, would lead 
for a few minutes. The chivalry of our Indians, in the heat of 
the contests, contrasted favourably with that of " professionals," 
no " foul " ever took place, though the course often lay through 
narrow, winding, reedy, channels. Once, when Baptiste at such 
a place might have forced ahead by a spurt, he slacked speed 
gracefully, let Ignace take the curve and win. Another time* 
when neck and neck, he saw a heavy line dragging at the stern 
and called Louis' attention to it. No one ever charged the other 
with being unfair and no angry word was ever heard ; in fact, 
the Indians grow on us day by day. It is easy to understand 
how an Englishman, travelling for weeks together with an 
Indian guide, so often contracts a strong friendship for him ; for 
the Indian qualities of patience, endurance, dignity and self- 
control, are the very ones to evoke friendship. 

The sun rose bright but was soon clouded. Ten good miles 
were made and then the halt called for breakfast, at a beautiful 
headland, just as it commenced to rain. Now we got some 
idea of what a rainy day in these regions means. After break- 
fast we put on our water-proofs, covered up our baggage and 
moved ahead, under a deluge of rain that knew no intermission 
for four hours. Most of the water-proofs proved to be delusions ; 
they had not been made for these latitudes. The canoes would 



42 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

have filled, had we not kept bailing, but, without a word 
of complaint, the Indians stick to their paddles. 

From the lake we passed into the Maligne River, and there 
the current aided us. In this short, but broad and rapid 
stream, are six or seven rapids, which must be " shot " or port- 
aged round ; we preferred the " shooting " wherever it was 
practicable for such large and deeply-laden canoes as ours. 

To shoot rapids in a canoe is a pleasure that comparatively- 
few Englishmen have ever enjoyed, and no picture can give an 
idea of what it is. There is a fascination in the motion, as of 
poetry or music, which must be experienced to be understood : 
the excitement is greater than when on board a steamer, 
because you are so much nearer the seething water, and the canoe 
seems such a fragile thing to contend with the mad forces, into 
the very thick of which it has to be steered. Where the stream 
begins to descend, the water is an inclined plane, smooth as a 
billiard table ; beyond, it breaks into curling, gleaming rolls 
which end off in white, boiling caldrons, where the water has 
broken on the rocks beneath. On the brink of the inclined 
plane, the canoe seems to pause for an instant. The captain is 
at the bow, — a broader, stronger paddle than usual in his hand — 
his eye kindling with enthusiasm, and every nerve and fibre in 
his body at its utmost tension. The steersman is at his post, and 
every man is ready. They know that a false stroke, or too weak 
a turn of the captain's wrist, at the critical moment, means death. 
A push with the paddles, and, straight and swift as an arrow, 
the canoe shoots right down into the mad vortex ; now into a 
cross current that would twist her broadside round, but that every 
man fights against it; then she steers right for a rock, to which she 
is being resistlessly sucked, and on which it seems as if she would 
be. dashed to pieces ; but a rapid turn of the captain's paddle at 
the right moment, and she rushes past the black mass, riding 
gallantly as a race horse. The waves boil up • at the side 




:.V/ill 



THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 43 

threatening to engulf her, but, except a dash of spray or the cap 
of a wave, nothing gets in, and, as she speeds into the calm reach 
beyond, all draw long breaths and hope that another rapid is 
near. 

At eleven o'clock we reached Island Portage, having paddled 
thirty-two miles, — the best forenoon's work since taking to the 
canoes — in spite of the weather. Here a steam launch is 
stationed ; and, though the engineer thought it a frightful day to 
travel in, he got ready at our request, but said that he could not 
go four miles an hour as the rain would keep the boiler wet the 

whole time. We dined with M 's party, under the shelter 

of their upturned canoe, on tea and the fattest of fat pork, which 
all ate with delight unspeakable, for there was the right kind 
of sauce. The day, and our soaked condition, suggested a 
little brandy as a specific ; but their bottle was exhausted, and, 
an hour before, they had passed round the cork for each to have 
a "smell" at, in lieu of a " drain." Such a case of " potatoes and 
point" moved our pity, and the chief did what he could for 
them. The Indians excited our admiration ; — soaked through, 
and over-worked as they had been, the only word that we heard, 
indicating that they were conscious of anything unusual, was an 
exclamation from Baptiste, as he gave himself a shake, — " Boys, 
wish I was in a tavern now, I'd get drunk in less than tree 
hours, I guess." 

At two o'clock, the steam launch was ready, and, about the 
same time, the sky cleared a little ; a favorable wind, too, 
sprang up, and, though there were nowers or heavy mists all 
the time, the launch towed us the twenty-four miles of Lake 
Nequaquon in three and a quarter hours. The scenery was 
often very fine, but being of the same kind as that for more than 
a hundred miles back, it began to be monotonous, and we 
craved for a few mountains. 

Next came Loon portage ; then paddling for five miles ; then 



44 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

Mud portage, worthy of its name ; another short paddle ; and 
then American portage, at which we camped for the night — 
the sun having at last come out and this being the best place for 
pitching tents and the freest from mosquitoes. Tired enough 
all hands were, and ready for sleep, for these portages are killing 
work. After taking a swim, we rigged lines before huge fires, and 
hung up our wet things to dry, so that it was eleven o'clock 
before anyone could lie down. " Our wet things," with some, 
mean all. The doctor and the secretary had stowed theirs in 
water-proof bags, kindly lent them by the Colonel ; but, alas, 
the bags proved as fallacious as our " water-proofs !" Part of the 
Botanist's valise was reduced to pulp, but he was too eager in 
search of specimens to think of such a trifle, and, while all the 
rest of us were busy washing and hanging out to dry, he hunted 
through woods and marshes, and, though he got little for his pains, 
was happy as a king. 

Our camping ground had been selected by the Indians with 
their usual good taste. A rocky eminence, round two sides of which 
a river poured ina roaring linn ; on the hill sombre pines, under- 
neath which the tents were pitched ; and lower down a forest of 
white birch. More than one of the party dreamed that he was 
in Scotland, as he was lulled to sleep by the thunder of the 
waterfall. 

July 26th. — Up again about three, A. M., and off within an 
hour, down a sedgy river, with low swampy shores, into Lake 
Nameukan. The sun rose bright, and continued to shine all 
day ; but a pleasant breeze tempered its rays. At mid-day, the 
thermometer stood at 80 ° in the shade, the hottest since leaving 
Owen Sound. One day on Lake Superior it was down to 
48 °, and the average at mid-day since we landed at Thunder 
Bay was from 55 ° to 60 ° . 

After twelve miles paddling, halted at a pretty spot on an islet 
for breakfast. Frank caught a large pickerel and M shot a 



THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 45 
few pigeons, giving us a variety of courses at dinner. M 's 



Indians tried a race with us to-day, and after a hard struggle, 
got ahead of Toma and Baptiste, but Ignace proudly held his 
own and wouldn't be beaten. However, among the many turns 
of the river, Toma, followed by Baptiste, circumvented their old 
master, by dashing through a passage overgrown with weeds and 
reeds instead of taking the usual channel. When Ignace turned 
the corner he saw the two young fellows coolly waiting for him a 
hundred and fifty yards ahead. They gave a sly laugh as 
he came up, but Ignace was too dignified to take the slightest 
notice ; Baptiste was so pleased that he sang us two Iroquois 
canoe songs. 

Eighteen miles, broken by two short portages, (for we took a 
short cut instead of the public route), brought us about mid-day 
to Rainy Lake ; here we were told, but, as it turned out, incor- 
rectly, was the last steam launch that could be used on our 
journey, as the two on Rainy River and Lake of the Woods had 
something wrong with them. 

The engineer promised to be ready in two hours, and to land 
us at Fort Francis, at the west end of Rainy Lake, forty-five 
miles on, by sundown. But in half an hour the prospect did 
not look so bright, as, across the portage, by the public route, 
came a band of eighteen emigrants, men, women and children, 
who had left Thunder Bay five days before us, and whom we 
had passed this forenoon, when we took our short cut. They 
had a great deal of baggage, and were terribly tired. One old 
woman, eighty-five years of age, complained of being sick, and 
the doctor attended to her. As we had soup for dinner, he sent 
some over to her, and the prescription had a good effect. While 
waiting here we took our half dried clothes out of the bags, and, 
by hanging them on lines under the warm sun, got them pretty 
well dried before starting. 

At three, P. M., at the cry of " All aboard;' our iiotilla formed 



46 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

at once, — the steam launch towing two large barges with the 
emigrants and their luggage, and the four canoes. The afternoon 
was warm and sunny, and there was a pleasant breeze on the 
Lake. In half an hour every Indian was asleep in the bottom 
of his canoe. 

The shores of Rainy Lake are low, especially on tne northern 
side, and the timber is small ; the shores rocky, with here and there 
sandy beaches that have formed round little bays ; scenery tame 
and monotonous, though the islets, in some parts, are numerous 
and beautiful. 

By nine o'clock, we had made only thirty miles. Our steamer 
was small, the flotilla stretched out far and the wind was ahead. 
We therefore determined to camp ; and, by the advice of the 
engineer, steered for the north shore to what is called the 
Fifteen Mile House from Fort Francis, said house being two 
deserted log huts. In a little bay here, on the sandy beach, we 
pitched our tents and made rousing fires, though the air was 
warm and balmy, as if we were getting into a more southern 
region. The botanist, learning that we would leave before day- 
break, lighted an old pine branch and roamed about with his 
torch to investigate the flora of the place. The others visited the 
emigrants to whom the log-huts had been assigned, or sat round 
the fires smoking, or gathered bracken and fragrant artemisia 
for our beds. 

July 27th. — Had our breakfast before four A. M., and in less 
than half an hour after, were en route for Fort Francis. Two 
miles above the Fort the Lake ends and pours itself into Rainy 
River, over a rapid which the emigrant's barges had not oars to 
shoot. They were cast off, and we went on to the Fort and 
sent men up to bring them down. The Fort is simply a Hudson's 
Bay Company's trading post ; — the shop and the cottages of the 
agent and employes in the form of a square, surrounded by 
stockades about ten feet high. From the Fort is a beautiful view 



1 




THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 47 

of the Chaudiere Falls which have to be portaged round. ' These 
are formed by the river, here nearly two hundred yards wide, 
pouring over a granite ridge in magnificent roaring cascades. A 
sandy plain of several acres, covered with rich grass, extends 
around the Fort, and wheat, barley, and potatoes are raised ; but, 
beyond this plain, is marsh and then rock. A few fine cattle, in 
splendid condition, were grazing upon the level. On the 
potato leaves we found the " Colorado Bug," that frightful pest 
which seems to be moving further east every year. 

Half a dozen wigwams were tenanted in the vicinity of the 
Fort, and there were scores of roofless poles, where, a fortnight 
ago, had been high feasting for a few days. A thousand or 
twelve hundred Ojibbeways had assembled to confer with Mr. 
Simpson, the Dominion Indian Commissioner, as to the terms 
on which they would allow free passage through, and settlement 
in, the country. No agreement had been come to, as their terms 
were considered extravagant. 

Justice, both to the Indians and to the emigrants who are 
invited to make their home in this newly opened country, 
demands that a settlement of the difficulty be made as soon as 
possible. It may be, and very probably is, true that some of them 
are vain, lazy, dirty, and improvident. The few about Fort 
Francis did not impress us favourably. They contrasted 
strikingly with our noble Iroquois. The men were lounging 
about, lolling in their wigwams, playing cards in the shade, or 
lying on their faces in the sun ; and, though not one of -them was 
doing a hand's turn, it was a matter of some difficulty to get 
four or five to go with us to the North-west Angle, to replace 
those who had come from Shebandowan and whose engagement 
ended here. There were some attempts at tawdry finery about 
them all. The men wore their hair plaited into two or more 
long queues, which, when rolled up on the head, looked well 
enough, but which usually hung down the sides of the face, 



48 Ocean to ocean. 

giving them an effeminate look, and all the more so because bits 
of silver or brass were twisted in or ringed round with the plaits. 
One young fellow that consented to paddle, had long streamers oi 
bright ribbon flying from his felt hat. Another poor looking 
creature had his face streaked over with red ochre — of course 
to show how brave and blood-thirsty he was. Some wore 
blankets, folded loosely and gracefully about them, instead of 
coats and trousers ; but one thing we remarked was that every 
one of them had some good clothes ; the construction of the 
road being the cause of this, for all who wish can get employment 
in one way or another in connection with it. At Fort Francis 
the hulls of two steamers, to be over a hundred feet in length, for 
use on Rainy river and Lake of the Woods, are now being built ; 
and Indians who cannot work at bringing in timber or at ship 
carpentering, can be employed as voyageurs, or to improve the 
portages, or to fish or hunt, or in many other ways. But 
whatever the benefits that have been conferred on them, or 
whatever their natural defects, they surely have rights to this 
country, though they have never divided it up into separate 
personal holdings. They did not do so, simply because their 
idea was that the land was free to all. Each tribe had its own 
ground, which extended over hundreds of miles, and every man 
had a full right to all of that as far as he could occupy it. 
Wherever he could walk, ride, or canoe, there the land and the 
water were his. If he went to the land of another tribe, the 
same rule held good ; he might be scalped as an enemy, but 
he ran no risk of being punished as a trespasser. 

And now a foreign race is swarming over the country, to mark 
out lines, to erect fences, and to say "this is mine and not yours," 
till not an inch shall be left the original owner. All this may be 
inevitable. But in the name of justice, of doing as we would 
be done by, of the " sacred rights " of property, is not the 
Indian entitled to liberal, and, if possible, permanent compen- 



THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 49 

sation ? What makes it difficult to arrange a settlement with 
the Ojibbeways is, that they have no chiefs who are authorized 
to treat for them. This results from their scattered and dispersed 
state as a nation. The country they live in is poorly supplied 
with game, and produces but little of itself, and the Indian does 
not farm. It is thus impossible for them to live in large bodies. 
They wander in groups and families from place to place, often 
suffering the extreme of hunger, and sometimes starved outright. 
Each group has generally one or more men of greater moral or 
physical power than the rest, and these are its chiefs, chiefs 
who have no hereditary rank, who have never been formally 
elected, and who are quietly deposed when greater men than 
they rise up. Their influence is indirect, undefined, wholly 
personal, and confined to the particular group they live with. 
They can scarcely speak for the group, and not at all for the 
nation. When anything has to be done for the nation as a 
whole, there is then no other way but for the nation to meet en 
masse. Even then they elect no representative men, unless 
specially requested. Those of greatest age, eloquence, or personal 
weight, speak for the others ; but decisions can be come to only 
by the crowd. Of course they could not have existed, thus 
loosely bound together, had they lived in large bodies, or been 
pressed by powerful enemies. But they are merely families and 
groups, and their lands have no special attraction for other Indian 
tribes. Neither can they be formidable as enemies to settlers on 
this same account, should the worst come to the worst ; but their 
feebleness makes it the more incumbent on the Government of 
a Christian people to treat them not only justly but generously. 
After breakfast we resolved to paddle down the river, till 
overtaken by the steam launch with the emigrants. The day 
was very warm ; when we landed, about twelve miles on, to 
dine, the thermometer stood at 8y ° in the shade. Our 
secretary left the thermometer at this halt, hanging on the shady 



50 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

side of a tree ; but, fortunately, the Chief was able to produce 
another from the bag. 

Rainy River is broad and beautiful; and flows with an easy 
current through a low-lying and evidently fertile country. For 
the first twenty-five miles, twenty or thirty feet above the 
present beach or intervale, rises, in terrace form, another, 
evidently the old shore of the river, which extends far back, like 
a prairie. The richness of the soil is evident, from the luxuriance 
and variety of the wild flowers. Much of the land could be 
cleared almost as easily as the prairie ; other parts are covered 
with trees, pines, elms, maples, but chiefly aspens. 

Thirty-five miles from Fort Francis we ran the Manitou rapids 
and, five miles further on, the Sault, neither of them formidable. 
A moderately powerful steamer could easily run up as well as 
shoot them. Beyond the Sault we landed to take in wood for the 
tug, and tea for ourselves. The Botanist came up to us in a few 
minutes with wild pea and vetch vines eight feet high, which 
grew so thickly, not far off, that it was almost impossible to 
pass through them. The land is a heavy loam, — once the bed 
of the river, — and is called " Muskeg" here, though, as that is 
the name usually given to ancient peat-bogs or tamarack swamps 
abounding in springs, it is not very appropriate. The time will 
come when every acre of these banks of Rainy river will be 
waving with grain, or producing rich heavy grass, for countless 
herds of cattle. 

It was now sunset, and the captain of the tug said that it 
would take six hours yet to reach " Hungry Hall." We resolved, 
in accordance with our programme, to go on ; but the Colonel 
preferred to camp and, perhaps, overtake us next day. So 
it was decided, but the Iroquois did not like the arrangement 
at all, as it was a break-up of their party; Louis tried to get with 
us by exchanging places with Baptiste, but Baptiste couldn't see 
it. We were sorry to part with Ignace and Louis, even for twenty- 



THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 5 1 

four hours, and perhaps altogether; but as the night was pleasant, 
and we wished to rest the next day, and stick to our programme 

on all occasions if possible, we had to say "good-ye." M 's 

party came with us, and so did the barges withthe emigrants. 

On we swept, down the broad, pleasant river, with its long 
reaches, beautiful at night as they had been in the bright sun- 
shine. At times a high wall of luxuriant wood rose on each side, 
and stretched far ahead in curves that looked, in the gloaming, 
like cultivated parks. Occasionally an islet divided the river ; 
and, at such places, a small Indian camp was usually pitched. 
Of the seventy-five miles of Rainy River, down which we sailed 
to-day, every mile seemed well adapted for cultivation and the 
dwellings of men. At eleven o'clock the moon rose ; at half- 
past twelve we reached Hungry Hall, a post of the H. B. Com- 
pany and a village of wigwams, out of which all the natives 
rushed, some of them clothed scantily and others less than 
scantily, to greet the new comers, with " Ho ! Ho ! " or " B'jou, 
B'jou." Baptiste urged us not to stop here, as the Indians of 
the place were such thieves that they would " steal the socks off 
us," and spoke of good camping ground a mile and a half further 
on. We took his advice, after getting a supply of flour, 
pork, and tea from the store, and, after asking the captain of the 
steamer to delay starting on the morrow as long as he possibly 
could, paddled ahead. We soon reached Baptiste's point, pitched 
our tents over luxuriant masses of wild flowers heavy with dew, 
and, in a few minutes, were all sound asleep. 

July 28th. — This morning, for the first time since leaving Lake 
Superior, we enjoyed the luxury of a long sleep, and the still 
greater luxury of an hour's dozing, that condition between 
sleeping and waking in which you are just enough awake to 
know that you are not asleep. There was no hurry to-day, it was 
the day of rest ; and we hoped that the steamer wouldn't come 
till the afternoon or the morrow. 



52 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

At 8.30 A. M., as breakfast was getting ready, a distinguished 
visitor appeared, an old stately looking Indian, a chief, we were 
informed, and the father of Blackstone. He came with only one 
attendant ; but two or three canoes made their appearance about 
the same time, with other Indians, squaws, and papooses who 
squatted in groups on the banks at respectful distances. The old 
Indian came up with a "B jou, B'jou/* shook hands all round, and 
then drawing himself up, — knife in one hand, big pipe in the 
other, the emblems of war and peace — commenced a long 
harangue. We didn't understand a word ; but one of the men 
roughly interpreted, and the speaker's gestures were so expres- 
sive that the drift of his meaning could be easily followed- 
Pointing, with outstretched arms, north, south, east and west, 
he told us that all the land had been his people's, and that he 
now, in their name, asked for some return for our passage through 
it. The aim of all the eloquence was simply a breakfast ; but 
the bearing and speech were those of a born orator. He had 
good straight features, a large Roman nose, square chin, and, as 
he stood over six feet in his moccasins, his presence was most 
commanding. One great secret of impressive gesticulation — the 
free play of the arm from the shoulder, instead of the cramped 
motion from the elbow — he certainly knew. It was astonishing 
with what dignity and force, long, rolling, musical sentences 
poured from the lips of one who would be carelessly classed by 
most people as a Savage, to whose views no regard should be 
paid. When ended, he took a seat on a hillock with the dignity 
natural to every real Indian, and began to smoke in perfect 
silence. He had said his say, and it was our turn now. Without 
answering his speech, which we could .only have done in 
a style far inferior to his, the Chief proposed that he should have 
some breakfast. To show due respect to so great an O-ghe-mah, a 
newspaper was spread before him as a table-cloth, and a plate of 
fried pork placed on it, with a huge " slapjack " or thick pancake 



THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 53 

made of flour and fat, one-sixth of which was as much as any- 
white man's stomach could digest. A large pannikin of tea, a 
beverage the Indians are immoderately fond of, was also brought, 
and, by signs, he was invited to " fall to." For some moments 
he made no movement, either from offended pride or expectation 
that we would join him, or, more likely, only to show a gentle- 
manly indifference to the food. But the fat pork and the 
fragrant tea were irresistible. Many a great man's dignity has 
been overcome by less. After he had eaten about half, he 
summoned his attendant to sit beside him and eat, and to him, 
too, a pannikin of tea was brought. We then told the old man 
that we had heard his words ; that we were travellers carrying 
only enough food for ourselves, but that we would bring his 
views to the notice of the Government, and that his tribe would 
certainly receive justice, as it was the desire of our Great Mother 
the Queen, that all her children — red as well as white — should 
be well cared for. He at once assented, though whether he 
would have done so with equal blandness had we given him no 
breakfast is questionable. 

At 10 o'clock, the steamer came along to our great disappoint- 
ment, but there was nothing for it but to ' hook on.' A few 
miles through long reaches of wide expanding sedge and 
marsh brought us to the Lake of the Woods. An unbroken 
sheet of water, ten miles square, called " The Traverse," 
is the first part of this Lake that has to be crossed ; but, as a 
thunder storm seemed brewing behind us, the captain steered to 
the north behind a group of islets that fringe the shore. In half 
an hour an inky belt of cloud stretched over us from north to 
south, and, when it burst, the torrent was as if the lake had 
turned upside down. The storm moved with us, as in a circle, 
flashes of lightning coming simultaneously from opposite quarters 
of the heavens. First we had the wind and rain on our. backs, 
then on the left, then in our faces, and then on the right. The 



54 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

captain made for a little bay in an islet near at hand, and, though 
the weather cleared, it looked threatening enough to make him 
decide to put the steamer's fire out and wait. The islet was 
merely a sand dune, covered with coarse grasses and small 
willows, though in a storm these sand hills might be mistaken for 
formidable rocks. As there was not enough wood on it for both 
parties, we gave it up to the crew and the emigrants, and 
paddled to another a mile ahead. This islet was of gneissoid 
rock and had a bold headland covered with good wood. The 
botanist found the ash-leaved maple, the nettle tree, and an 
abundance of wild flowers ; twenty-four kinds that he had not 
seen since joining the expedition, and, of these, eight with 
which he was unacquainted. 

Scarcely were our canoes hauled up, when the Colonel came 
along. His men had been so anxious to have all their party 
together that they had paddled steadily at their hardest for 
seven hours. Louis at once set to work to get dinner ; and, it 
being Sunday, several delicacies were brought out in addition to 
the standing dishes of pork, biscuit, and tea. From the Colo- 
nel's stores came Mullagatawny soup, Bologna sausage, French 
mustard, Marmalade, and, as every one carried with him an abun- 
dant supply of the famous * black sauce,' we had a great feast. 

After dinner, all the party, except the pagan Ojibbeways, 
assembled for divine service. The form compiled for the sur- 
veying parties was read ; the ' Veni Creator' sung in Iroquois 
by the Indians ; and a short sermon preached. Although the 
Iroquois understood but few words of English, they listened 
most devoutly, and we listened with as much attention to their 
singing. To hear those children of the forest, on a lonely isle in 
a lake that Indian tradition says is ever haunted by their old 
deities, chanting the hymn that for centuries has been sung at 
the great Councils and «" n the high Cathedrals of Christendom, 
moved us deeply. 



THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 55 

After tea, candles were lit in the tents, as this evening we were 
not too tired to read. Our candlestick was a simple and 
effective Indian contrivance. A stick of any length you desired 
was slit at the top and then stuck in the ground. A bit of birch- 
bark or paper was doubled ; in the fold the candle was placed, 
and the ends were then inserted in the slit. The stick thus held 
the ends tight, and the candle upright. We spent a quiet 
pleasant evening and about 10 o'clock " turned in." 

July 29th. — Rose fresh and eager for the journey, and had a 
dip in the lake ; there was a heavy sea on the traverse, and, as 
the little steamer was not very sea-worthy, it was doubtful if she 
would attempt the passage. But, while we were at breakfast, she 
was announced as making in our direction. Orders were at once 
given to take down the tents and embark the stores, but the 
Indians showed some reluctance to move. They said that it 
would be safer to trust to the paddles ; that the waves in the 
middle of the traverse would be heavy, and that, if the canoes 
were forced through them, the bow or side would be broken in. 
We overruled their doubts, with a show of confidence, and started 
at 7.30 A.M. 

Instead of the long single line of canoes that had been formed 
on previous days, they were now formed two abreast, and 
the connecting lines of the first two were shortened, and tied to 
the middle bench of the big barge which contained the 
emigrants' luggage. This worked admirably, as the barge broke 
the waves, and, in the comparatively smooth water immediately 
behind her, the two canoes rode easily, the five-fathom one to 
windward and a smaller one under her lee ; close after these 
came the other two canoes. The passage was made safely, and 
the water for the rest of the day was only rippled slightly, 
as we took a circuitous route through innumerable islets, 
instead of the short and direct one over the unbroken part of 
the lake. The forenoon was cold and cloudy, but occasionally 



56 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

the sun shone cheerily out. Every one was thankful for the 
clouds and coolness, as they could note and enjoy the changing 
scenery, whereas the day before yesterday, in coming down 
Rainy River, they had suffered from the rays of the sun beating 
down fiercely, and reflected on every side from the water. To 
sit still in the canoes and suffer headache and drowsiness was a 
heavy price to pay for the pleasure of a glowing sun. The 
Indians, who seemed able to do without sleep, if necessary, but 
willing to take any quantity when they could get it, now slept 
soundly in the bottom of the canoes. 

At mid-day we landed for dinner in a bay on a fire-swept 
islet. The Doctor and L baked and fried some very supe- 
rior slap-jacks, which were a welcome addition to the invariable 
menii of tea, pork, and biscuits. The Colonel and the boys 
made the circuit of the islet with their guns ; but saw nothing 
worth shooting at except a solitary duck, which they didn't get. 
The Botanist was disappointed in his explorations, and took to 
collecting beetles as he couldn't get flowers. 

Lake of the Woods has been shorn of much of its beauty by 
the fires which have swept over many of its islets ; and, the 
character of its beauty being the same as that with which we 
had been already almost surfeited, it did not strike us as it cer- 
tainly would one coming from the west. The fires have also 
revealed the nakedness, as far as soil is concerned, of its shores 
and islets which are low, hard, gneissoid rocks, covered with but 
poor timber even where it has been spared. 

In the afternoon a favorable wind helped us on ; the barge 
hoisted a sail, and between wind and steam we made seven or 
eight miles an hour. The tug stopped twice for wood ; but such 
despatch was shown that though there was neither wharf nor 
platform, and the tug had to be held by boat hooks to the rocks, 
and at the same time kept from dashing against them, the whole 
thing was done at each place in ten minutes. Captain Bell's 



THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 57 

style of wooding up contrasted favorably with that of the captain 
of the Frances Smith. 

The last eight or nine miles of the Lake, which were to be 
the last of our journey by water, led up a long bay to what is 
called the ■"' North-west Angle," a point from which a road has 
been made to Fort Garry, so that travellers by this route 
now escape the terrible portages of the Winnipeg river and 
the roundabout way by Lake Winnipeg. The breeze chased us 
up finely, and we congratulated ourselves on having started in 
the morning, as the passage across " The Traverse " would have 
been an impossibility with the afternoon's wind. The land 
became lower as we sailed west. We were approaching the 
Eastern boundary of the great prairies, that extend to the west 
for the next thousand miles. A vast expanse of reeds lined 
both sides of the channel, and beyond these the wood looked 
poor and scrubby. The Indians, however, assured us that the 
land was good, — indeed, that it was the only lake of all that we 
had seen that had any land about it at all. 

At sunset, the " North-west Angle," the end of this side of 
the Lake of the Woods, was reached. It seems that this point, 
though far North of the 49th degree, or the boundary line 
between the Dominion and the United States, is claimed by the 
Republic, and that their claim is sustained by an evident verbal 
mistake in the Treaty that defines the boundary. " North-west " 
has been inserted instead of " South-west." If so, it is only 
another instance in which the diplomatists of the Empire 
have been outwitted by the superior knowledge and unscrupulous- 
ness of our neighbours. 

As we rounded out of the Bay into a little creek, the " Angle " 
seemed to be a place of some importance to the eyes of travel- 
lers who had not seen anything like a crowd in their last four 
hundred miles of travel. Fifty or sixty people, chiefly Indians, 
crowded about the landing place, and the babble and bustle was 



58 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

to us like a return to the world ; but, after having satisfied 
themselves with a good look at us, and a joyous boisterous 
greeting to our Ojibbeways, whom they carried off to an Indian 
and half-breed " ball " in the neighborhood, we were left alone 
in the dirtiest, most desolate-looking, mosquito-haunted of all 
our camping grounds. In such circumstances it was indis- 
pensable to be jolly ; so Louis was summoned and instructed to 
prepare for supper everything good that our stores contained. 
The result was a grand success, and the looks of the place 
improved materially. 

The chief received two letters at this point ; one from 
Governor Archibald inviting us to come direct to Government 
House at Fort Garry : another from the District Superintendent 
of the road, putting some few things of his at our disposal and 
also his half-breed cook. As cook had taken advantage of his 
master's absence to treat and be treated up to the hilarious point, 
his services, much to his amazement, were quietly dispensed 
with. At 1 1 o'clock we turned in under our canvas, having 
arranged that the waggons to take us on should be ready at 
4 A.M. 

July 30th. — Waked at 4.30, by the arrival of the waggons and 
the sound of heavy rain. Drank a cup of tea and were off in an 
hour on the hardest day's journey that we had yet had. It was 
two o'clock the following morning when we got out of the 
waggons for the night's rest, having travelled eighty miles in the 
twenty hours. 

Those eighty miles, between the North-west Angle and Oak 
Point, were through a country monotonous and utterly unin- 
teresting in appearance, but with resources that are sure to 
be developed as the country farther west is opened up. The 
first twenty miles are across a flat country, much of it marshy, 
with a dense forest of scrub pine, spruce, tamarack, and, here 
and there, aspens and white birch. On both sides of the road, 



THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 59 

and in the more open parts of the country, all kinds of wild 
fruit grow luxuriantly ; strawberries, raspberries, black and red 
currants, etc., etc., and, as a consequence, flocks of wild pigeons 
and prairie hens are numerous. The pigeons rest calmly on the 
branches of dead trees by the roadside, as if no shot had ever 
been fired in their hearing. Great difficulties must have been 
overcome in making this part of the road, and advantage has 
been skilfully taken of dry spots and ridges of gravel or sand 
that cccur here and there, running in the same general direction 
as the road. All this part of road has been corduroyed and then 
covered over with clay and sand, or gravel, where they could be 
got. The land here is heavy black loam with clay underneath, 
just like prairie land ; with the prairie so near it is not likely 
to be soon cultivated ; but the wood on it will be in immediate 
demand both for railway purposes and scantling. 

The next section of the country is of a totally different 
character. It is light and sandy, getting more and more so, every 
ten miles or so further west. This total change in the character 
of the soil afforded a rich feast to our Botanist. In the course 
of the day he came on two or three distinct floras ; and, although 
not many of the species were new, and, in general features, the 
productions of the heavy and the light soils were similar to those 
of like land farther east in Ontario and the Lower Provinces, yet 
the luxuriance and variety were amazing. He counted over four 
hundred different species in this one day's ride. Great was the 
astonishment of our teamsters, when they saw him make a 
bound from his seat on the waggon to the ground, and rush to 
the plain, wood, or marsh. At first, they all hauled up to see 
what was the matter. It must be gold or silver he had found ; 
but when he came back triumphantly waving a flower or 
bunch of grass, and exclaiming : " Did you ever see the like of 
that ?" " No, I never," was the general response from every 
disgusted teamster. The internal cachinnation of a braw Scotch 



60 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

lad, from the kingdom of Fife, over the phenomenon, was so 
violent, that he would have exploded had he not relieved 
himself by occasional witticisms; "Jock:," he cried to the teamster 
who had the honor of driving our Botanist, " tell yon man if he 
wants a load o' graiss, no' to fill the buggy noo, an' a'll show him 
a fine place where we feed the horse." But when one of us 
explained to the Scot that all this was done in the interests of 
science, and would end in something good for schools, he ceased 
to jibe, though he could not altogether suppress a deep hoarse 
rumbling far down in his throat — like that of a distant 
volcano, — when the Professor, as we now called him, would come 
back with an unusually large armful of spoil. The bonny Scot 
was an emigrant who had been a farm servant in Fife five 
years ago. He had come to the " Angle " this spring, and was 
getting thirty dollars a month and his board, as a common 
teamster. He was saving four-fifths of his wages, and intended 
in a few months to buy a good farm on the Red River among 
his countrymen, and settle down as a Laird for the rest of his 
life. How many ten thousands more of Scotch lads would 
follow his example if they only knew how easy it would be for 
them ! 

At our first station, White Birch river, thirty miles from the 
angle, we had a lunch of Bologna sausage, and bread baked by 
the keeper of the Station, a very intelligent man, a Scotch- 
man like the rest, who had once been a soldier. He was 
studying hard at the Cree and Ojibbeway languages, and gave 
us much interesting information about the country and the 
Indians. He attributed the failure of Mr. Simpson, to make a 
treaty with the Indians at Fort Francis, in great measure to the 
fact that Indians from the United States had been instigated by 
parties interested in the Northern Pacific Railway to come across 
and inflame their countrymen on our side to make preposterous 
demands. The story does not sound improbable to those who 



THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 6 1 

know the extremes which Railway Kings and companies in New 
York, and elsewhere in the Republic, have gone in pushing their 
own line and doing everything per fas atque nefas to crush 
opposition ; and the promoters of the N. P. Railroad are not 
in the best of humor at present because of the failure to float 
their bonds in London or Frankfort, and because of the pro- 
mising out-look for the Canadian Pacific Railway. It is a little 
remarkable that the Indians all over the Dominion are anxious 
to make Treaties, and are easily dealt with, except in the neigh- 
bourhood of the boundary line. Mr. Simpson, in his Report 
dated November, 1871, states that he had no difficulty with the 
Indians in Manitoba Province, except near Pembina ; and there 
he says, " I found that the Indians had either misunderstood 
the advice given them by parties in the settlement, well disposed 
towards the Treaty, or, as I have some reason to believe, had 
become unsettled by the representations made by persons in the 
vicinity of Pembina whose interests lay elsewhere than in the 
Province of Manitoba ; for, on my announcing my readiness to 
pay them, they demurred at receiving their money until some 
further concession had been made by me." 

Seventeen miles further on — at White Mud river — we dined ; 

S making some capital tomato-soup, and Mrs. McLeod, of 

the Station, giving us some blueberry jam and good bread. 
Had we known what was before us, some at least would have 
voted for remaining here all night. 

The next stage was to Oak Point, thirty-three miles distant. 
The first half was over an abominable road, and, as we had to 
take on the same horses, they lagged sadly. The sun had set 
before we arrived at Broken Head creek, only half-way to Oak 
Point. Somewhere hereabouts is the eastern boundary of 
Manitoba, and we are not likely to forget soon the rough greet- 
ing the new Province gave us. Clouds gathered, and, as 
the jaded horses toiled heavily on, the rain poured down 



62 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

furiously and made the roads worse. It was so dark that the 
teamsters couldn't see the horses ; and, as it unfortunately 
happened that neither of them had been over this part of the 
road before, they had to give the horses free rein to go where 
they pleased, and — as they were dead beat — at the rate they 
pleased. The black flies worried us to madness, and we were 
all heavy with sleep. The hours dragged miserably on, and the 
night seemed endless ; but, at length emerging from the wooded 
country into the prairie, we saw the light of the station two 
miles ahead. Arriving there weaned and soaked through, we 
came to what appeared to be the only building — a half-finished 
store of the Hudson Bay Company; — entering the open door, 
barricaded with paint pots, blocks of wood, tools, etc., we climbed 
up a shaky ladder to the second story, threw ourselves down 
on the floor, and slept heavily beside a crowd of teamsters 
whom no amount of kicking could awake. That night-drive 
to Oak Point we " made a note of." 

July 31st. — Awakened at 8 A. M., by hearing a voice exclaim- 
ing, "thirty-two new species already ; it's a perfect floral garden." 
Of course it was our Botanist, with his arms full of the treasures 
of the prairie. We looked out and beheld a sea of green 
sprinkled with yellow, red, lilac, and white. None of us had 
ever seen a prairie before, and, behold, the half had not been 
told us ! As you cannot know what the Ocean is without seeing 
it, neither can you in imagination picture the prairie. 

Oak Point is thirty miles east from Fort Garry, and a straight 
furrow could be run the whole distance, or north all the 
way up to Lake Winnipeg. A little stream — the Seine — runs 
from Oak Point into the Red River. The land along it in 
sections extending two miles into the prairie is taken up by the 
French half-breeds ; all beyond is waiting for settlers. 

After a good breakfast of mutton chops and tea, prepared by 
the half-breed cook at the Station, we started in our waggons 



THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY 63 

for Fort Garry across the prairie. Tall, bright yellow, French 
marigolds, scattered in clumps over the vast expanse, gave a 
golden hue to the scene ; and red, pink, and white roses, 
tansy, asters, blue-bells, golden rods, and an immense 
variety of compositae, thickly bedded among the green grass, 
made up a bright and beautiful carpet. Farther on, the flowers 
were fewer ; but everywhere the herbage was luxuriant, admirable 
for pasturage, and, in the hollows, tall enough for hay. Even 
where the marshes intervened, the grass was all the thicker, 
taller and coarser, so that an acre of marsh is counted as 
valuable to the settler as an acre of prairie. 

The road strikes right across the prairi^ and, though simply a 
trail made by the ordinary traffic, is an excellent carriage road. 
Whenever the ruts get deep, carts and waggons strike off a few 
feet, and make another trail alongside ; and the old one, if not 
used, is soon covered with new grasses. There is no sward ; all 
the grasses are bunch. Immense numbers of fat plover and snipe 
are in the marshes, and prairie hens on the meadow land. 

At 3 P.M., we reached the Red River, which flows northward, 
at a point below its junction with the Assiniboine, and crossed 
in a scow ; drove across the tongue of land, formed by it and the 
Assiniboine coming from the west, into the ^village of Winni- 
peg, and from there to the Fort, where the Government House is 
at present. 

Thus we finished our journey, from Lake Superior to 
Red River, by that Dawson road, of which all had previously 
heard much, either in terms of praise or disparagement. The total 
distance is about five hundred and thirty miles ; forty-five at the 
beginning and a hundred and ten at the end by land ; and three 
hundred and eighty miles between, made up of a chain of some 
twenty lakes, lakelets and lacustrine rivers, separated from each 
other by spits, ridges, or short traverses of land or granite rocks, 
that have to be portaged across. For those three hundred and 



64 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

eighty miles the only land suitable for agriculture is along Rainy- 
River, and, perhaps, around the Lake of the Woods. North and 
south the country is a wilderness of lakes, or rather tarns on a 
large scale, filling huge holes scooped out of primitive rock. The 
route is all that the tourist could desire ; the scenery pictu- 
resque, though rather monotonous owing to the absence of 
mountains; the mode of travelling, whether the canoes are 
paddled or tugged, novel and luxurious ; and, if a tourist can 
afford a crew of Indians and three or four weeks' time, he is cer- 
tain to enjoy himself, the necessity of having to rough it a good 
deal only adding zest to the pleasure. 

The road has been proved already on two occasions to be 
a military necessity for the Dominion, until a railway is built 
farther back from the boundary line. If Canada is to open up her 
North-west to all the world for colonisation, there must be a 
road for troops, from the first: there are sufficient elements 
of disorder to make preparedness a necessity. As long as 
we have a road of our own, the United States would perhaps 
raise no objection to Canadian volunteers passing through Min- 
nesota ; were we absolutely dependent, it might be otherwise. 

In speaking of this " Dawson road " it is only fair to give full 
•credit for all that has been accomplished. Immense difficulties 
have been overcome, insomuch that, whereas it took Colonel 
Wolsley's force nearly three months, or from early in June to 
August 24th, to reach Fort Garry from Thunder Bay, a similar 
expedition could now do the journey in two or three weeks. 

But, as a route for trade, for ordinary travel or for emigrants to 
go west, the Dawson road, as it now exists, is far from satis- 
factory. Only by building a hundred and fifty-five miles or so 
of railway at the beginning and the end, and by overcoming the 
intervening portages in such a way that bulk would not 
have to be broken, could it be made to compete even with the 
present route by Duluth and the railway thence to Pembina. 



THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 65 

The question, then, is simply whether or not it is wise to do this, at 
an expenditure of some millions on a road the greater part of which 
runs along the boundary line, after the Dominion has already 
decided to build a direct line of railway to the North-west. 
This year about seventy emigrants have gone by the road in the 
six weeks between June 20th and August 1st. The station-mas- 
ters and other agents on the road, as a rule, do their very utmost ; 
they have been well selected, and are spirited and intelligent 
men ; but the task given them to do is greater than the 
means given will permit. The road is composed of fifteen or 
twenty independent pieces; is it any wonder if these often 
do not fit, especially as there cannot be unity of understanding 
and of plan, for there is no telegraph along the route and it 
would be extremely difficult to construct one ? 



CHAPTER IV. 

Province of Manitoba. 

Bxl«ntv— Population.— Land claims of original settlers.— Sale of Lots in Winnipeg — 
Hudson Bay Company.— Clergymen of the settlement.— Military camp.— Archbishop 
Tachd.— United States Consul.— Conflicting opinions respecting the Fertile Belt.— Our 
outfit for the Prairios.— Chief Commissioner Smith.— Hudson's Bay Company.— Lie ut.- 
Governor Archibald.— Doparturo from Silver Heights.— White Horse Plains.— Rer. 
Mr. McDougal.— Portago la Prairie.— The last settler.— Climate, etc., of Manitoba 
compared with the older Provinces, — Sioux Indians in war paint.— General remarks 
on Manitoba— Emigrants and the United Statos' Agents.— Treatment of the Indians. 

August 1st. — Fort Garry. — The Province of Manitoba, in 
which we now are, is the smallest Province in the Dominion, 
being only three degrees of longitude, or one hundred and 
thirty-five miles long, by one and a-half degrees of latitude, or 
a hundred and five miles broad ; but, as it is watered by two 
magnificent rivers, and includes the southern ends of the two 
great lakes, Winnipeg and Manitoba, which open up an immense 
extent of inland navigation, and as almost every acre of its soil 
is prairie, before many years it may equal some of the large- 
Provinces in population. At present the population numbers 
about fifteen thousand, of whom not more than two thousand 
are pure whites. One-fifth of the number are Indians, either 
living in houses or wanderers, one-third English or Scotch 
half-breeds, and rather more than a third French half-breeds. 
"Order reigns in Manitoba," though wise ruling is still required 
to keep the conflicting elements in their proper places. By the 
legislation that made Manitoba a Province, nearly one-sixth of 
the land was reserved for the half-breeds ; owing to some delay 
in carrying out this stipulation, the Metis, last year, got suspi- 
cious and restless, and the Fenians counted on this when they 
invaded the Province from Pembina and plundered the Hudson's 
Bay Company's post near the line. As the half-breeds live along 
(66) 



PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 67 

the Red River from Pembina north, the situation was full of 
danger ; had they joined the Fenians, the [frontier would have 
been at once moved up to Fort Garry. Everyone can under- 
stand the serious consequences that would have followed the 
slightest success on their part. Happily the danger was 
averted by prompt action on the part of the Governor. The 
whole population rallied around him, and the Fenians, not being 
able to advance into the country, were dispersed by a company 
of United States regulars, after being compelled to disgorge 
their plunder. A Battalion of Canadian militia, stationed 
at different points along Red River, now keeps the peace and 
guarantees its permanence. The land difficulty has been settled 
by faith being kept with the half-breeds ; a treaty has been 
made with the Indians that extinguishes their claims to the 
land ; and, as the whole of the Province has been surveyed, 
divided off into townships, sections, and sub-sections, emigrants, 
as they come in, can either get accurate information in the 
Winnipeg Land-office as to where it would be best for them 
to settle, or they can visit and then describe the piece of land 
they wish to occupy. There is room and to spare for all, after 
doing the fullest justice to the old settlers. Even the one-sixth 
reserved for them cannot, in the nature of things, be permanently 
held by those among whom it may now be divided. There is 
no Jewish law preserving to each family its inheritance forever. 
The French half-breeds do not like farming, and they therefore 
make but poor farmers ; and, as enterprising settlers with a 
little capital come in, much of the land is sure to change hands. 
The fact that land can be bought from others, as well as from 
the Government, will quicken instead of retarding its sale. 

After breakfast this morning, we had an opportunity of 
conversing with several gentlemen who called at Government 
House : the United States Consul, the Land Commissioner, 
Officers of the Battalion, Dr. Schultz, and others All spoke in 



68 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

the highest terms of the climate, the land, and the prospects of 
the Province and of the North-west. Nothing shows more 
conclusively the wonderful progress of Manitoba and the settled 
condition into which it has emerged from the chaos of two or 
three years ago, than the fact that the Hudson's Bay Company 
sold at auction, the other day, in building lots, thirteen acres of 
the five hundred of their Reserve around Fort Garry, at the rate 
of $7000 per acre. At half the rate, for the rest, the Hudson's Bay 
Company will receive for this small reserve more than the money 
payment of ^"300,000 stg., which Canada gave for the whole 
territory ; and, if a few acres favorably situated bring so much, 
what must be the value of the many million of acres transferred 
to the Dominion ? The policy of the Company now is exactly 
the opposite of what it used to be ; formerly all their 
efforts were directed to keep the country a close preserve ; 
now they are doing all in their power to open it up. The 
times have changed and they have changed with them. And, 
regarding them merely as a Company whose sole object ha* 
been and is to look after their own interests and pay good 
dividends to the shareholders, their present policy is as sagacious 
for to-day as the former was for yesterday. While a fur trading 
Company with sovereign rights, they did not look beyond their 
own proper work ; they attended to that, and, as a duty merely 
incidental to it, governed half a continent in a paternal or semi- 
patriarchal way, admirably suited to the tribes that roamed 
over its vast expanses. But, as they can no longer be supreme, 
it is their interest that the country should be opened up ; and 
they are taking their place among new competitors, and preparing 
to reap a large share of the fruits of the development. For 
many a year to come they must be a great power in our North- 
west. 

To-day was spent in seeing men and things, the land and the 
rivers, in and around Fort Garry. The Chief drove twenty miles 



PROVINCE OF MANITOBA, 69 

down the Red River, to the Stone Fort, the Governor and the rest 
of the party accompanying him five miles to Kildonan, where 
they called on the Rev. Mr. Black. The farms have a frontage 
of eight chains on the river, and run two miles back, with the 
privilege of cutting hay on two miles more in the rear. The 
people are Highlanders from Sutherland shire, and, though 
they knew but little about scientific farming when they 
settled, the excellence of the land and their own thrifty 
habits have stood them in good stead. They have all 
saved money, though there was no market for produce, except 
what the Hudson's Bay Company required, till within the last two 
or three years. Mr. Black has been their minister for twenty 
years. He mentioned the curious fact that all the original 
emigrants were Presbyterians, but that, as no minister was sent 
to them from the Church of Scotland, the missionaries of the 
Church of England attracted great numbers to their communion, 
by wisely adapting their service to Scottish tastes. Till recently, 
the Scottish version of the psalms was sung in the Cathedral, 
and the afternoon sen-ice was altogether on the Presbyterian 
model. The Missionaries, Archdeacons, and Bishops have been 
earnest evangelical men, several of them Scotchmen too. It is, 
therefore, no wonder if even Scottish dislike of prelacy gave way 
before such a combination. There are now Methodist and Presby- 
terian clergymen in the Province, as well as Roman Catholic and 
Episcopal. They all have missions to the Indians, and report 
that, while the great majority of the Crees and other tribes to the 
north-west are Christianized, the majority of the Ojibbeways 
around Fort Garry and to the east are still pagans. The 
Cjibbeway seems to have more of the gipsy in him than any of 
the other tribes, and to cling more tenaciously to the customs, 
traditions, and habits of life of his ancestors. It may be that 
the rivalry of the Churches that he sees at Red River, and the 
vices of the white men that he finds it easy to pick up — 



70 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

drunkenness especially — have something to do with the obstinacy 
of his paganism. The drunkenness of Winnipeg is notorious ; the 
clergy do all in their power, by precept and example, to check it, 
but they accomplish little. The Roman Catholic Bishop and 
his priests, all the Presbyterian and Methodist Ministers, the 
Episcopal Archdeacon and several of his clergy are teetotallers ; 
but the " saloons " of Winnipeg are stronger than the Churches. 

In conversation with the Archdeacon and Mr. Black, we 
learned that the various denominations were building or pre- 
paring to build " Colleges." A common school system of unsec- 
tarian education has been established by the Local Government, 
one-twentieth of the land reserved as a school endowment, and 
power given to the townships to assess themselves ; but, strange 
to say, nothing has been done to establish a common centre of 
higher education. The little Province with its fifteen thousand 
inhabitants will therefore soon rejoice in three or four denomina- 
tional " Colleges." 

We called on Archdeacon McLean, who declared his intention 
of spendingthe next twelve months in England, and giving lectures 
there on the North-west, as a field for emigrants. He is the right 
kind of man for such duty, and will do more to make Manitoba 
known than a dozen ordinary emigration agents. We also called 
on the Wesleyan Minister and Archbishop Tache ; but, unfor- 
tunately, both were from home, so at 3 P. M. we went to the 
camp and saw the battalion reviewed. After the review, the Adju- 
tant General complimented the men, and most deservedly, on the 
admirable order and cleanliness of the camp, the excellence of 
the " galley," and their good conduct in their relations with the 
citizens. The men were smart, stout, clean-looking soldiers, and 
went through various movements with steadiness and activity. 
Many of them settle in the country as their term of service 
expires, free grants of land being given to all who have served 
for a year. 



PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. J I 

August 2nd. — Having arranged to leave Fort Garry to-day, 
we did so, but with extreme reluctance, so great was the kindness 
of the Governor, his private Secretary, and indeed of all classes. 
Archbishop Tache called this morning, and delighted us with his 
polished manners and extensive knowledge of the country. He 
does not think very highly of the Saskatchewan valley as a future 
grain-producing country, differing in this respect from every 
other authority; but he speaks in glowing terms of the Red-deer 
Lake and River which runs into the Athabaska, sometimes called 
Lac la Biche, a better name because there are innumerable ' Red 
deer' lakes. In that far away country, extending to the north 
of the North Saskatchewan, the wheat crops of the mission have 
never suffered from summer frosts but once. It certainly is one 
of the anomalies of the North-west, that the way to avoid frosts 
is to go farther north. To hear on the same day the U S. 
Consul and the Archbishop speak about 'the fertile belt* is 
almost like hearing counsel for and against it. The Consul believes 
that the world without the Saskatchewan would be but a poor 
affair ; the Archbishop that the ' fertile belt ' must have been so 
called because it is not fertile. But how explain the Arch- 
bishop's opinions ? The evidence he adduced in support of them 
suggests the explanation ; he confined himself to facts that had 
been brought before him ; but his induction of facts was too 
limited. It, doubtless, is true that at Lac la Biche wheat is 
raised easily, and that at the R. C. Missions, near the Saskat- 
chewan, it suffers from summer frosts ; but the only two R. C. 
settlements that we heard of in the Saskatchewan country, viz. 
those at St. Albert's and Lake St. Ann's, we visited, and could 
easily understand why they suffered. They are on the extreme 
north-west of the ' belt/ at an altitude above sea-level of from 
2000 to 2500 feet, and were selected by the half-breeds not with 
a view to farming, for the French half-breed is no farmer, but 
because of the abundance of white fish in the lake, and sturgeon 



72 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

in the river, and because they were convenient for buffalo hunting 
and trapping, as well as for other reasons. The substance of the 
disputed matter seems to be this : every one else believes in 'the 
fertile belt ' of the Saskatchewan ; the Archbishop believes that 
there is a belt farther north much more fertile. 

At Fort Garry, farewell greetings had to be exchanged with 
the colonel and his son. Military duties required his pre- 
sence in the Province for ten days, and we could not wait 

M and L also parted with us here ; and Horetski, who 

had been sent on ahead to make the necessary arrangements for 
the journey westward, joined us ; so that our party from this date 
numbered six. A French half-breed, named Emilien, had been 
engaged to conduct us across the plains, as far as Fort Carleton, 
after the approved style of prairie travel. Emilien's cavalcade 
for this purpose was, in our ignorant eyes, unnecessarily large and 
imposing ; but before many days we found that everything was 
or might be needed. The caravan is not more needed in the 
East, across the deserts, than it is in the West, across the 
fertile but uninhabited prairies. Provisions for the whole party 
and for the return journey of the men must be carried, — unless 
you make frequent delays to hunt, — your tents and theirs, in 
other words, house and furniture ; kitchen, larder, and pantry ; 
tool-chest and spare axle-trees ; clothes, blankets, water-proofs, 
arms and ammunition, medicine-chest, books, paper-boxes for 
specimens to be collected on the way, and things you never 
think of till you miss them. 

Our caravan consisted of six Red River wooden carts, in which 
were stowed the tents, baggage, and provisions ; a horse to each 
cart, and three drivers, one of them the cook for the six carts ; 
two buckboards, or light, four-wheeled waggonettes, for any of us 
to use when tired of the saddle ; saddle horses for the party, and 
two young fellows with Emilien to drive along a pack of eighteen 
horses, as a change of horses is required once or twice a day 



L.A/Wii 




PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 73 

when it is intended to travel steadily at the rate of two hundred 
and fifty miles a week. The native horses are small, except those 
that have been crossed with Yankee or Ontarian breeds ; but, 
though small and often mean-looking, it is doubtful if the best 
stall-fed horses could keep up with them on a long journey. 

Emilien started from the Fort with his carts and band of horses 
at 10 A.M. We followed at mid-day, the Governor accompanying 
us to " Silver Heights," six miles up the Assiniboine. This had 
been his own country residence, but is now owned by D. A. 
Smith, Esq., M. P., the head of the H. B. Company in America. 
We met here Mr. Christie, late chief factor at Edmonton, Mr. 
Hamilton, of Norway House, Mr. McTavish and others from 
different parts of the great North-west ; and received from Mr. 
Smith assistance and highland hospitality, of the same kind 
that every traveller has experienced, in crossing the continent, 
wherever there is an H. B. post. 

A few words about this Hudson's Bay Company may be 
allowed here, not only because of the interest attaching to it as 
the last of the great English monopolies, but because, to this day, 
it is all but impossible for a party to cross the country from 
Fort Garry to the Pacific without its co-operation. Its forts are the 
only stations on that long route where horses can be exchanged, 
provisions bought, and information or guides obtained. The 
Company received its charter .in the year 1670. The objects 
declared in that charter were fur-trading and the Christianising 
of the Indians. The two objects may be considered incongruous 
in these days ; but history must testify that the Company as a 
rule sought to benefit the Indians as well as to look after its own 
interests. At first, and for more than a century, it displayed 
but little activity, though its profits were enormous. Its operations 
were chiefly confined to the shores of Hudson's Bay ; but in 
1783, a rival Company called "the North West" — con- 
sisting chiefly of Canadians — disputed their claims, entered the 



74 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

field, and pushed operations so vigorously, that the old Company- 
was stirred into life and activity. A golden age for the red man 
followed. Rival traders sought him out by lake and river side ; 
planted posts to suit every tribe ; coaxed and bribed him to 
have nothing to do with the opposition shop ; assured him that 
Thomas Codlin and not Short had always been the friend of 
the Indian ; gave him his own price for furs, and — what he liked 
much better — paid the price in rum. Over a great part of North 
America the conflict raged hotly for years, for the Territory 
over which the Hudson's Bay Company claimed jurisdiction 
was the whole of British America, — outside of the settled Eastern 
Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick and Nova 
Scotia, — a territory twenty-six hundred miles long and fourteen 
hundred broad. The rival Companies armed their agents, 
servants, and half-breed voyageurs, and many a time the quarrel 
was fought out in the old-fashioned way, in remote wildernesses, 
where there were no Courts to interfere and no laws to appeal to. 
In 1821 the two Companies, tired of this expensive contest, 
agreed to coalesce, and the present Hudson's Bay Company was 
incorporated Some details as to its constitution may be gleaned 
from a work published in 1849, entitled "Twenty-five years in 
the Hudson's Bay Territory," by John McLean. The shareholders 
elected a Governor and Committee to sit in London and represent 
them. This body sent out a Governor to the Territory, whose 
authority was absolute. He held a Council at York Factoiy in 
Hudson's Bay, of such chief factors and chief traders as could 
be present ; but these gentlemen had the right only to advise, 
they could not veto any measure of the Governor. The vast 
territory of the Company was divided into four departments, and 
those departments into districts. At the head of each depart- 
ment and district a chief factor or chief trader generally presided, 
to whom all officials within its bounds were amenable. The 
discipline and etiquette maintained were of the strictest kind, 



PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 75 

and an esprit de corps existed between the 3,000 officers, — com- 
missioned and non-commissioned, voyageurs, and servants, — such 
as is only to be found in the army or in connection with an 
ancient and honorable service. The Company wisely identified 
the interests of its agents with its own, by paying them not in 
fixed salaries, but with a certain share of the profits ; and the 
agents served it with a devotion and pride honorable to all 
parties. The stock of the Company was divided into an hundred 
shares, sixty of these belonging to the capitalists, and forty 
being divided among the chief factors and chief traders. 

The first territory lost by the Company was two-thirds of 
that lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific. Oregon 
was lost to them when yielded in 1846 to the United States, 
after the ten years' joint occupancy; and Vancouver's Island 
and British Columbia, when they were formed into Provinces. 
The fertile plains along the Red River, the Assiniboine, and 
the two Saskatchewans ought to have been opened up by the 
Empire and formed into Colonies long ago : but their real value 
was not known. It was not the business of the Company to 
call attention to them as fitted for any other purpose than to 
feed buffalo : for those plains were their hunting grounds, and 
their posts on them were kept up chiefly for the purpose of 
supplying their far northern posts with pemmican, or preserved 
buffalo-meat. The Company did what every other corporation 
would have done, attended simply to its own business. The 
more sagacious of its leading men knew that the end was coming, 
as the country could not be kept under lock and key much 
longer. They could not enforce their monopoly ; for they had 
no authority to enlist soldiers, they were not sure of their 
legal rights, and the tide of emigration was advancing nearer 
every day. Eight or nine years ago, when Governor Dallas was 
shown some gold washed from the sand-bars of the Saskatchewan, 
his remark was, " the beginning of the end has come." Gold 



76 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

would bring miners, merchants, farmers, and free-trade, so that 
fur-bearing animals and monopolies would need to fall back to the 
frozen north ; still, the end would have been longer delayed 
had the British Provinces not united. But, in 1869, the Com- 
pany's rights to all its remaining territories were bought up, 
under Imperial authority, by the Dominion of Canada, and, as a 
monopoly and a semi-sovereign power, the Company ceased to 
exist. 

To return to our diary. A walk in the garden at Silver 
Heights was sufficient to prove to us the wonderful richness of 
the soil of the Assiniboine valley. The wealth of vegetation 
and the size of the root crops astonished us, especially when 
informed that no manure had been used and very little care 
taken. The soil all along the Assiniboine is either a dark or light- 
coloured loam, the vegetable or sandy loam that our gardeners are 
anxious to fill their pots with ; a soil capable of raising anything. 
After dinner, we said 'good-bye' to the Governor, a statesman 
of whom even opponents will hereafter record that he 
deserved well of the country, because, on all great occasions, he 
preferred countiy to self or party, and of whose work in Manitoba 
we ought to say and would say much more, were it not for the fact 
that we had partaken of his hospitality. Driving rapidly on for five 
or six miles, Mr. Jones of the Railway Commissariat accompanying 
us,we overtook our cavalcade, which had made but indifferent pro- 
gress on account of sundry leave-takings by the way. The country 
along the road is partly settled, but, with few exceptions, the 
farmers evidently do not farm. Till lately they had not much 
inducement, for there was no market : but they have neither 
the knowledge nor the inclination to farm systematically ; and, 
in a few years, most of the present occupants will be bought out 
and go west. 

As specimens of what may be done here, the farm of one 
Morgan was pointed out. He had bought it some years ago, 



PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 77 

for £$o; and this year, he had already been offered ^450 for 
the potatoes growing on it. A Wesleyan Missionary told us 
that, last year, he had taken the average of ten good farmers near 
Portage la Prairie, and found that their returns of wheat were 
" seventeen bushels to one," — and that on land which had been 
yielding wheat for ten years back, and which would continue to 
yield it, on the same terms, for the next thirty or forty. 

We drove on in the quiet, sunny afternoon, at a pleasant rate, 
over a fine farming but unfarmed, country, to the " White Horse 
Piains," and rested at " Lane's Post," about twenty-five miles 
from Fort Garry. Lane is a North of Ireland man, a good 
farmer, and, like all such, enthusiastic in praise of the country. 
" What about wood and water ?" we asked. "Plenty of both 
everywhere," was his answer. Wherever wells had been dug on 
the prairie near to his place, water had been found. On the 
Assiniboine and the creeks running into it, or north into 
Lake Manitoba, there was abundance of good timber ; and, 
where none existed, if aspens were planted, they grew, in five 
years, big enough for fence poles. 

Our first evening, on the prairie was like many another which 
followed it. The sky was a clear, soft unflecked blue, save all 
around the horizon, where pure white clouds of many shapes 
and masses bordered it, like a great shield of which only the rim 
is embossed. The air was singularly exhilarating, yet sweet and 
warm, as in more southern latitudes. The road was only the 
trail made by the ordinary traffic, but it formed nevertheless an. 
excellent carriage road. Far away stretched the level prairie, 
dotted with islets of aspens ; and the sun, in his going down, 
dipped beneath it as he does beneath the sea. Soon after 
sunset, we reached our camping place for the night, an open 
spot on the banks of the river, thirty-three miles from Fort 
Garry, on the east side of Long Lake, with plenty of dry wood 
for our fires, and good feed for the horses near at hand. Scarcely 



yS OCEAN TO OCEAN, 

were our fires lighted when another traveller drove up, the Rev 
Mr. McDougal, Wesleyan Missionary at Fort Victoria near 
Edmonton. We cordially welcomed him to our camp, and asked 
him to join our party. He was well known to us by reputation 
as a faithful Minister, and an intelligent observer of Indian 
character. He had been nine times over the plains, and evidently 
knew the country better than our guides. On this occasion, he 
was accompanied only by his Cree servant Joseph, or, as it is 
pronounced in Cree, " Souzie." 

August 3rd. — We found this morning that it was not so easy 
to make an early start with a pack of horses as when canoes 
only were in question. Two or three of the pack were 
sure to give trouble, and the young fellows in charge had at least 
half an hour's galloping about, — which they didn't seem to 
regret much, — before all were brought together. Watering 
harnessing, saddling, and such like, all took time. To-day the 
Chief and Secretary drove on ahead twenty-seven miles with Mr. 
Jones to Portage la Prairie, to write letters that the latter was 
to take back to Fort Garry. The rest followed more slowly, and 
the whole party did not reunite for the second start of the day 
till four P. M. 

The road and the country were much the same as yesterday. 
We were crossing the comparatively narrow strip of land between 
the Assiniboine and Lake Manitoba, along which the Railway 
must run. Long Lake, or a creek that is part of it, is near the 
road for the greater part of the distance. It is difficult to get 
at the water of the lake, because of the deep mire around the 
shores ; and so we took the word of one of the settlers for it, 
that it is good though warm. Water, from a well by the roadside, 
that we drank, was good, and cold as ice. All the land along this 
part of the Assiniboine, north to what is called the " Ridge," for 
eight miles back has been taken up, but a great part is in the hands 
of men who do not understand the treasures they could take out 



PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 79 

of it ; and there is abundance of the same kind of land farther 
back, for new settlers. As we drove past in the early morning, 
prairie hens and chickens rose out of the deep grass and ran 
across the road, within a few feet of us ; while, on mounds of 
hay in a field lately mown, sat hawks, looking heavy and sated, as 
if they had eaten too many chickens for breakfast. On the 
branches of oaks and aspens sat scores of pigeons, so unmoved 
at our approach that they evidently had not been much shot at. 
We asked a farmer who had recently settled, and was making 
his fortune at ten times the rate he had done in Ontario, if he 
ever shot any of the birds. " No," he contemptuously answered, 
" he was too busy ; the half-breeds did that sort of thing, and 
did little else." Day after day, he would have for dinner fried 
pork or bacon, and tea, when he could easily have had the most 
delicious and wholesome varieties of food. He told us that, in 
the spring, wild geese, wavies, and ducks could be shot in great 
number ; but he had eaten only one goose in Manitoba. Surely 
it was a fellow feeling that made him so " wondrous kind." 

Portage la Prairie is the centre of what will soon be a 
thriving settlement, and, when the railway is built, a large 
town must spring up. On the way to the little village, 
we passed, in less than ten miles, three camps of Sioux — 
each with about twenty wigwams, — ranged in oval or cir- 
cular form. The three camps probably numbered three 
hundred souls. The men were handsome fellows, and a few 
of the women were pretty. We did not see many of the 
women, however, as they kept to the camps doing all the dirty 
work, while the men marched about along the road, every one 
of them with a gun on his shoulder. The Indian would carry 
his gun for a month, though there was not the slightest chance 
of getting a shot at anything. These Sioux fled here nine or 
ten years ago, after the terrible Minnesota massacre, and here 
they have lived ever since. One amiable-looking old woman 



SO OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

was pointed out as having roasted and eaten ten or twelve 
children. No demand was made for their extradition, probably 
because they had been more sinned against than sinning. 
Frightful stories are told of the treatment of Indians by miners ; 
and there are comparatively few tales of Indian atrocities to 
balance them. When the Sioux entered British territory they 
had with them old George III medals, and they declared that 
their fathers had always considered themselves British subjects 
and that they would not submit to the rule of the " long knives." 
They are and always have been intensely loyal to their " great 
mother," and, during Riel's rebellion, were ready and anxious to 
right for the Queen. We were told that the United States 
authorities had offered pardon if they would return to their own 
lands ■ for the Government at Washington is desirous now to 
do justice to the Indians, though its best efforts are defeated by 
the cupidity and knavery of its agents ; but the Sioux would 
not be charmed back. The settlers all around the Portage speak 
favorably of the Sioux. They are honest and harmless, willing 
to do a day's work for a little food or powder, and giving little 
or no trouble to anybody. 

The doctor at the portage entertained us hospitably. He 
spoke highly of the healthiness of the climate, showing himself 
as an example. There seems nothing lacking in this country 
but good industrious settlers. 

At four P.M. we started for the next post, " Rat Creek," ten 
miles off. The sky was threatening, but, as we always disre- 
garded appearances, no one proposed a halt. On the open 
prairie, when just well away from the Hudson's Bay Company's 
store, we saw that we were in for a storm. Every form of beauty 
was combined in the sky at this time. To the south it was such 
blue as Titian loved to paint : blue, that those who have seen 
only dull English skies say is nowhere to be seen but on canvas 
or in heaven ; and the blue was bordered to the west with vast 



PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 8 1 

billowy mountains of the softest, fleeciest white. Next to that, 
and right ahead of us, and overhead, was a swollen black cloud, 
along the under surface of which greyer masses were eddying at 
a terrific rate. Extending from this, and all around the north 
and east, the expanse was a dun-coloured mass livid with light- 
ning, and there, to the right, and behind us, torrents of rain were 
pouring, and nearing us every moment. The atmosphere was 
charged with electricity on all sides, lightning rushed towards the 
earth in straight and zigzag currents, and the thunder varied 
from the sharp rattle of musketry to the roar of artillery ; still 
there was no rain and but little wind. We pressed on for a 
house, not far away ; but there was to be no escape. With the 
suddenness of a tornado the wind struck us, — at first without rain 
— but so fierce that the horses were forced again and again off the 
track. And now, with the wind came rain, — thick and furious ; 
and then hail, — hail mixed with angular lumps of ice from half 
an inch to an inch across, a blow on the head from one of which 
was stunning. Our long line of horses and carts was broken, 
Some of the poor creatures clung to the road, fighting desperately, 
others were driven into the prairie, and, turning their backs to 
^ie storm, stood still or moved sideways with cowering heads, 
their manes and long tails floating wildly like those of Highland 
shelties. It was a picture for Rosa Bonheur; the storm driving over 
the vast treeless prairie, and the men and horses yielding to or 
fighting against it. In half an hour we got under the shelter 
of the log-house a mile distant ; but the fury of the storm was 
past, and in less than an hour the sun burst forth again, scattering 
the clouds, till not a blot was left in the sky, save fragments 
of mist to the south and east. Three miles farther on was 
the camping place. The houses of several settlers were to be 
seen on different parts of the creek. One of them was pointed out 
as the big house of Grant, a Nova Scotian, and now the farthest 
west settler. We were on the confines of the " Great Lone Land." 
F 



82 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

August 4th. — Enjoyed a long sleep this morning and break- 
fasted at 8 A. M. Had intended to rest all day, but Emilien 
refused. He had contracted to do the journey in so many days, 
and would do it in his own way ; and his way was to travel on 
all days alike. He agreed, however, to make a short journey so 
that we might be able to overtake him, though not starting till 
late in the afternoon. 

At io AM., we went over to Grant's house to service. Mr. 
McDougall and a resident Wesleyan Missionary officiated. About 
fifty people were present, and in the afternoon a Sunday School 
of thirty children was held in the same room. Some of us 
dined at Grant's, and the rest with one of his neighbours — 
McKenzie. Both these men seem to be model settlers. They 
had done well in Ontario, but the spirit of enterprise had 
brought them to the new Province. One had come three years 
ago, and the other only last year ; and now one had a hundred 
and twenty acres under wheat, barley and potatoes, and the 
other fifty. In five years both will have probably three or four 
hundred acres under the plough. Jhere is no limit to the amount 
they may break up except the limit imposed by the lack of 
capital or their own moderation. This prairie land is the plac^ 
for steam ploughs, reaping, mowing, and threshing machines* 
With such machinery one family can do the work of a dozen 
men. It is no wonder that these settlers speak enthusiastically 
of the country. The great difficulties a farmer encounters 
elsewhere are non-existent here. To begin with, he does not 
need to buy land, for a hundred and sixty acres are given away 
gratuitously by the Government to every bond fide settler ; 
and one third of the quantity is a farm large enough for any 
one who would devote himself to a specialty, such as the raising 
of beets, potatoes, or wheat. He does not need to use manure, for, 
so worthless is it considered, that the Legislature has had to pass 
a law prohibiting people from throwing it into the rivers. He 



PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 83 

has not to buy guano, nor to make compost heaps. The land, if it 
has any fault, is naturally too rich. Hay is so abundant that 
when threshing the grain at one end of the yard, they burn 
the straw at the other end to get rid of it. He does not 
need to cleai the land of trees, stumps or rocks, — for there are 
none. Very little fencing is required, for he can enclose all his 
arable land at once with one fence, — and pasture is common 
and illimitable. There is a good market all over Manitoba for 
stock or produce of any kind, and, if a settler is discontented he 
can sell his stock and implements for their full value to new 
comers. 

And what of the Indians, the mosquitoes, and the locusts ? 
Myths, as far as we could learn, with as little foundation as myths 
generally have. Neither Crees nor Sioux have given those 
settlers the slightest trouble. The Sioux ask only for protection, 
and even before Governor Archibald Kiade the Treaty with the 
Sauteaux and Crees by which they received a hundred and sixty 
acres of land per family of five, and three dollars per head every 
year for their rights to the country, they molested no one. " Poor 
whites/' were they about in equal numbers, would give ten times 
as much trouble as the poor Indians, though some of the 
braves still paint ferociously and all carry guns. And the 
mosquitoes, and the grasshoppers or locusts, no one ever 
spoke of, probably because the former are no greater nuisance 
in Manitoba than in Minnesota or Nova Scotia, and the latter 
have proved a plague only two or three times in half a century. 
Every country has its own drawbacks. The question must 
always be, do the advantages more than counterbalance the 
drawbacks? Thus, in returning home through California we 
found that the wheat crop, this year, amounted to twenty millions 
of bushels. The farmers told us that, for the two preceding 
years, it had been a failure owing to long continued drought, and 
that, on an average, they could only count on a good crop every 



84 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

second year, but, so enormous was the yield then, that it 
paid them well to sow wheat. Take, too, the case of the great 
wheat-raising State of what, as distinguished from the Pacific, 
may be called the Eastern States. The wheat crop of Minnesota 
this year amounts to twenty millions of bushels. But, up to 
1857, enough wheat was not raised in the State to supply the 
wants of the few thousands of lumbermen who first settled 
Minnesota. Flour had to be sent up the Mississippi from St. 
Louis, and the impression then was very general that one hal " 
of Minnesota consisted of lakes, sandhills, sandy prairies, and 
wilderness, and that the winters were so long and so cold in the 
other half that farming could never be carried on profitably ; 
and, doubtless, severe remarks could be made with truth against 
Minnesota, but it is also the truth that twenty years ago its 
population was five thousand, and that now it is five hundred 
thousand. The soil of Minnesota is not equal in quality to 
the soil of Manitoba. Calcareous soils are usually fertile. And 
Manitoba has not only abundant limestone everywhere, but 
every other element required to make soil unusually productive. 
Whereas, when you sail up the Red River into Minnesota, the 
limestone disappears, and the valley contracts to a narrow 
trough, only two or three miles wide, beyond which the soil is 
thin and poor. But, notwithstanding all difficulties, most of the 
emigrants to Minnesota are prospering. Hundreds of thousands 
of hardy Welshmen and Scandinavians poured into the new 
State, secured land under the Homestead Acts or bought it 
from Railway Companies,, lived frugally — chiefly on a bread 
and milk fare — for the first few years, and they arc now well-to-do 
farmers. Seeing that all the conditions for prosperous settlement 
are more favourable in Manitoba, is it not easy to foresee a simi- 
larly rapid development, if those entrusted with its destinies and 
with the destinies of our< great North-w r est act with the energy and 
public spirit 01 which our neighbours show so shining an example ? 



PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 85 

It is not hard to trace the sources of all those alarming 
rumours, that we heard so much of at a distance, concerning the 
climate and soil of Manitoba. Our friends on Rat Creek gave 
us an inkling of them. On their way from St. Paul's, Minnesota, 
with their teams and cattle, at every post they heard those 
rumours in their most alarming shapes, all of course duly authen- 
ticated. They were repeatedly warned not to impoverish their 
families by going to a cold, locust-devoured, barren land, where 
there was no market and no freedom, but to settle in Minnesota. 
Agents offered them "the best land in the world," and when, 
with British stupidity, they shut their ears to all temptations, 
obstacles were thrown in the way of their going on, and costs 
and charges so multiplied, that the threatened impoverishment 
would have become a fact before they reached Manitoba, had 
they not been resolute and trusted entirely to their own resources. 
Even when they arrived at Winnipeg the gauntlet had still to 
be run. In that ' saloon'-crowded village is a knot of touters 
and indefatigable sympathizers with American institutions, men 
who had always calculated that our North-west would drop like 
a ripe pear into the lap of the Republic, who had been at the 
bottom of the half-breed insurrection, and who are now bitterly 
disappointed to see their old dream never likely to be more 
than a dream. These worthies told Grant's party quite confiden- 
tially that they had been " so many years " in the country, and 
had not once seen a good crop. Who could doubt such disin- 
terested testimony? It maybe asked, what object can these men 
have in slandering the country and retarding its development ? 
Is not their own interest bound up in its prosperity ? Whatever 
the motives, such are the facts. But the man who would indig- 
nantly deny that there is any connection between great schemes 
on the other side of the boundary line and Winnipeg pot-house 
politicians has a very poor idea 01 the thorough-going activity 
of American Railway directors, and Minnesota land agents. 



86 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

But what of the terrible frost, the deep snow, and the long 
winters ? These must be stern realities. The answer of every 
man and woman we spoke to, in town or country, was that the 
winter was pleasanter than in Ontario, Quebec, or the Maritime 
Provinces. There is no severe weather till the beginning of 
December. The average depth of snow from that time is two feet, 
and there is no thaw till March. The severity of the intervening 
months is lessened by the bright sun, the cloudless skies, the 
stillness and dryness of the air. On account of the steady cold 
the snow is dry as meal, and the farmers' wives said that " it was 
such an advantage that the children could run about all winter, 
without getting their feet wet." They certainly could not say 
as much in Nova Scotia. This dryness of the snow is also an 
important fact as regards Railway constructi ^n Let the rails 
be raised two or three feet above the level of the prairie, and 
they are sure to be always clear of snow. In fact there is much 
less risk of snow blockades in the winter on our western plains 
than in the older Provinces or in the North-eastern States. In 
March, and even in April, there are sometimes heavy snow-storms. 
But this snow soon melts away. It is what was intended for 
spring rain. Hay is needed in these months more than in the 
winter, when the horses and even the cattle can paw off the snow 
and eat the nutritive grasses underneath ; whereas, in March 
and April a crust is often formed, too hard for their hoofs to 
remove ; and the more hay that is cut in the autumn the less 
risk from prairie fires, as well as the better provision for the live 
stock. 

In Grant's house we saw the photograph of an old friend, John 
Holmes, of Pictou, Nova Scotia, who has been well called "the 
oldest and youngest Senator of the Dominion ;" and at Prairie 
Portage, those of the Governor General, the Premier, Sir Francis 
Hincks, Alexander McKenzie, and others of our public men, 
adorning the walls, so that we were reminded that, although in a 



PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 2>7 

• 
new land, we were still in our own Country. Everywhere, in con- 
versation with the people, we found the rising of that national 
sentiment, that pride in their Country and interest in their 
Statesmen, which is both a result and a safe-guard of national 
dignity and independence, as distinguished from a petty provin- 
cialism. This Western country will, in the future, probably mani- 
fest this spirit more than even the Eastern Provinces, and so be 
the very backbone of the Dominion ; just as the prairie States of 
the neighbouring republic are the most strongly imbued with 
patriotic sentiments. The sight, the possession of these boundless 
seas of rich land stirs in one that feeling of — shall we call it 
" bumptiousness " — that Western men have been accused of dis- 
playing. It is easy to ridicule and caricature the self-sufficiency, 
but the fact is, one feels like a young giant, who cannot help 
indulging in a little " tall talk," and in displays of his big limbs. 
At 4 P. M., we prepared to follow our party, but, at this 
moment, a body of sixty or eighty Sioux, noble looking fellows, 
came sweeping across the prairie in all the glory of paint, feathers, 
and Indian warlike magnificence. They had come from Fort 
Ellice, had recently travelled the long road from Missouri, 
and were now on their way to Governor Archibald to ask 
permission to live under the British flag, and that small reserves 
or allotments of land should be allowed them, as they were 
determined to live no longer under the rule of ' the long knives.' 
Some of them rode horses, others were in light baggage-carts or 
on foot. All had guns and adornment of one kind or another. 
A handsome brave came first with a painted tin horse a foot 
long hanging from his neck down on his naked brawny breast, 
skunk fur round his ankles, hawk's feathers on his head, and a 
great bunch of sweet-smelling lilac bergamot flowers on one arm 
to set him off the more. An Indian has the vanity of a child. 
We went forward to address him, when he pointed to another as 
O-ghe-ma (or chief); and, as the band halted, the O-ghe-ma 



88 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

then came up with the usual "Ho, Ho; B'jou, B'jou," and shook 
hands all round with a dignity of manner that whites in the new 
world must despair of ever attaining. His distinction was a 
necklace of bears' claws, and mocassins belted with broad stripes 
of porcupines' quills dyed a bright gold. Next to him came the 
medicine man, six feet three inches in height, gaunt and wasted 
in appearance, with only a single blanket to cover his nakedness. 
They would have liked a \ongpow wow, but we had time only for 
hasty greetings and a few kindly words with them. 

It was late before we reached the tents, for Emilien had gone on 
to 'the three creeks,' twenty-two miles from Rat Creek — or 'crick* 
as the word is universally pronounced in the North-west. Every 
stream, too small to be dignified with the name of river, is a 'crick.' 
In to-morrow morning's journey, we are to pass out of the 
Province of Manitoba. This, then, is probably the best place for 
a few additional words on it as a home for emigrants ; on the 
subject of emigration generally ; and on the settlement of the 
Indian difficulty in the Province. 

How is it that the United States have risen so rapidly from the 
condition of a fringe of provinces along the Atlantic to that of a 
mighty nation spreading its arms across a continent ? The ques- 
tion is one that the new Dominion ought to ask, for the Domi- 
nion also aspires to greatness, and believes that it has within its 
borders all the resources required to make a nation materially 
great. A principal cause of the rapid development of the 
United States is that it has absorbed, especially within the last 
quarter of a century, so many millions of the population of the 
old world. It had a great West, boundless expanses of fertile 
land, and had the wisdom to see that, while the soil is the great 
source of wealth, untilled soil is valueless; and that therefore 
every inducement should be held out to the masses, overcrowded 
in Europe, to seek homes within its borders. Each emigrant who 
landed at Castle Garden represented the addition of hundreds of 



PROVINCE OF MANITOBA, 89 

dollars to the wealth of the country. He represented the 
cultivation of some land and an increased value to more, addi- 
tional imports and exports, taxes and national strength. With 
the same apparent generosity, but with as cool a calculation of 
profits as that which sent Stanley to discover Livingstone, free 
grants of land were therefore offered to the whole world. Home- 
stead laws provided that those farms should not be liable to be 
seized for debt. As it was necessary that the emigrant should 
be able to get easily to his farm and to send to market what he 
raised, companies were chartered to build railways in every 
direction, the State subsidising them with exemptions, money 
bonuses, and enormous land grants. The ancient maxim had 
been, ' settle up the country and the people will build railways if 
they want them.' The new and better maxim is, 'build railways 
and the country will soon be settled.' These railway corpora- 
tions became the emigration agents of the United States, and 
well have they done the public work while directly serving their 
own interests. With the one aim of securing settlers, whose labour 
on parts of their land would make the other parts valuable, they 
organized, advertized, and worked emigration schemes with a 
business-like thoroughness that has attracted far less attention 
than it deserves. What a proud position the United States, as a 
country, was thus made to occupy in the eyes of the whole 
world! 'Ho, every one that wants a farm, come and take one,' 
it cried aloud, and in every language. Poor men toiling for a 
small daily wage in the old world, afraid of hard times, sickness 
and old age, heard the cry, and loved the land that loved them 
so well, and offered so fair. They came in thousands and found, 
too, that it kept its word ; and then they came in tens and 
hundreds of thousands, till now less liberal offers have to be made, 
because most of the public domain that is worth anything has 
been absorbed. Those hard-working mac:es prospered, and 
they made the country great. Some of them who had been 



90 OCEAN TO OGEAN. 

rudely expatriated, who had left their mother land with bitter- 
ness in their hearts, vowed vengeance and bequeathed the vow 
to their children. Others, attributing their success to the new 
institutions, began to hate the forms of government that they 
identified with their days of penury and misery. Others were 
wiser, but their interests were bound up with their adopted 
country, and, when it came to the question, they took sides 
against the old and with the new. Had ,the State held aloof, 
maintaining that any interference or expenditure on its part in 
connection with emigration was inconsistent with political 
economy, that the tide of population must be left to flow at 
its own sweet will, and railways be built only where there was 
a demand for them, the great west of the United States would 
not have been filled up for many a year to come. And had the 
Imperial authorities thought less about imaginary laws of poli- 
tical economy and more about pressing practical necessities, 
millions, who are now in a strange land, bitter enemies of the 
British crown, would have been its loyal subjects in loyal colonies. 

The past is gone ; but it is not yet too late to do much. We 
now stand on a more favourable vantage ground than before, 
not only positively but comparatively, for our vast virgin 
prairies are thrown open, while there is but little good land left 
in the United States available for settlement under the home- 
stead laws. The great lines of communication from the sea- 
board are beginning to touch our North-west territory ; and, if we 
act with the vigour and wisdom of which our neighbours have 
set the example, the ever-increasing current of emigration from 
the old world must flow into Manitoba, and up the Assiniboine, 
and Saskatchewan rivers. 

We must act, to bring about such a result. It will not come 
of itself. While we stand looking at the river, it flows past. 
Labour is required to divert it into new channels, or it will flow 
over the courses that have been made for it, or simply overflow 



PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 9 1 

them. We are now able to offer better land, and on easier terms, 
to immigrants than the United States or any of its railway com- 
panies offer, but they will continue to attract them if we fold our 
arms while they work. They have many influences on their 
side ; the gravitating force of numbers ; past success on a grand 
scale ; grooves worn smooth by the millions tramping westward ; 
a vast army of agents paid in proportion to their success ; every 
principal railway station in Europe, and even in the Dominion, 
papered with their glowing advertisements ; floods of pamphlets 
in every language; arrangements perfected to the minutest details 
for forwarding the ignorant and helpless stranger from New York 
and Chicago to any point he desires ; and perhaps a comfortable 
log shanty ready for him when he gets there. They offer great 
inducements to men to organise colonies; advise 'neighbours to 
club their resources and emigrate together, so that one may help 
the other ; lay off village plats and draw beautiful sketches of 
future cities ; and cheer the drooping spirit of the foreigner, 
when he is discouraged with difficulties that had not been adver- 
tised, with brilliant prophecies, and an infusion of the indomitable 
Yankee spirit. They make the doubter believe that it is better 
to pay their company from $5 to $15 an acre for "the best land 
in the world," '• rich in minerals," with " no long winters," accom- 
panied with free passes over the railway, and long credits, "one- 
tenth down, the rest when it suits you," than to take up free 
grants elsewhere. 

In all this business, for it is purely a business transaction, 
though- gilded with soft hues of " buncombe," references to down- 
trodden millions, American generosity, free institutions, and such 
like, they have hitherto had no competitor; for, until our North- 
west was opened up and proved to contain farms for the million, 
we could not well compete. What the mass of emigrants wanted 
was prairie soil ; land that they could plough at once without 
the tedious and exhausting labour of years required in wood- 



92 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

land farming, chopping, rolling, burning, grubbing, stumping and 
levelling. Such land the Dominion can now offer, and it is 
therefore, the great and immediate duty of the Government to 
see that it be opened up, and brought within reach of the ordi- 
nary class of settlers. 

To what point in the Dominion should the emigrant turn his 
eyes ? Each Province presents special inducements, but no 
part of America now offers so many as Manitoba. The land 
farther west and to the north-west is equally good, but, until 
opened up by railway or steamboats, it is comparatively valueless 
to the settler; for there is little use in raising stock, wheat, 
or potatoes, if they cannot be conveyed to market. But Mani- 
toba is now within reach of the emigrant, and there is a good 
market in Winnipeg. This little village is becoming a town ; 
houses are springing up in all directions with a rapidity known 
only in the history of western towns ; and the demand for 
provisions, stock, farm implements, and everything on which 
labour is expended, is so much greater than the supply, that 
prices are enormously high. The intending settler, therefore, 
should bring in with him as much of what he may require as he 
possibly can. 

Besides a rich soil, a healthy and — for the hardy populations 
of northern and central Europe — a pleasant climate, law and 
order, and all the advantages of British connection, Manitoba 
offers other inducements to the emigrant. 

The Government of the Dominion has opened the country for 
settlement on the most liberal terms possible. Any person, 
the subject of Her Majesty by birth or naturalization, who is the 
head of a family or has attained the age of twenty-one years, is 
entitled to be entered for one hundred and sixty acres, for the 
purpose of securing a homestead right in respect thereof. To 
secure this land he has only to make affidavit to the above effect, 
and that he purposes to be an actual settler. On filing this 



PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 93 

affidavit with the land officer, and on payment to him of $10, he^ 
is permitted to enter the land specified in his application. Five 
years thereafter, on showing that he has resided on or cultivated 
the land, he receives a patent for it ; or any time before the 
expiration of the five years he can obtain the patent by paying 
the pre-emption price of one dollar an acre. This farm, no 
matter how valuable it may become, and his house and furni- 
ture, barns, stables, fences, tools, and farm implements are 
declared free from seizure for debt ; and, in addition to the 
exemption of all those, there are also exempted, " one cow, two 
oxen, one horse, four sheep, two pigs, and the food for the same 
for thirty days." 

There are, and can be, no Indian wars or difficulties in Mani- 
toba. This is a matter of the utmost importance to the intend- 
ing settler. When we returned from our expedition, the Chief 
was interviewed at Ottawa by a deputation of the Russian sect 
of Mennonites, who are looking out for the best place in America 
for their constituents to settle in, and one of their first questions 
referred to this. He answered it by pulling a boy's knife out of 
his pocket, small blade at one end, corkscrew at the other, and 
told them that that was the only weapon he had carried while 
travelling from Ocean to Ocean ; adding that he had used only 
one end of even so insignificant a weapon, and that end not 
so often as he would have liked. 

As the mode of settlement adopted in Manitoba is based on 
the system that has been long tested in the older provinces, and 
that will probably be extended to the whole of the North-west, 
a few words on the general question may not be out of place. 
There are three ways of dealing with the less than half-million 
of red men still to be found on the continent of America, each 
of which has been tried on a smaller or larger scale. The first 
cannot be put more clearly or baldly than it was in a letter 
dated San Francisco, Sept. 1859, which went the round of the 



94 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

American press, and received very general approval. The 
writer, in the same spirit in which Roebuck condemned the 
British Government's shilly-shally policy towards the Maories, 
condemned the Federal Government for not having ordered a 
large military force to California when they got possession of it, 
" with orders to hunt and shoot down all the Indians from the 
Colorado to the Klamath." Of course the writer adds that such 
a method of dealing with the Indians would have been the 
cheapest, " and perhaps the most humane." With regard to this 
policy of " no nonsense," thorough-going as selfishness itself, it 
is enough to say that no Christian nation would now tolerate it 
for an instant. 

The second way is to insist that there is no Indian question. 
Assume that the Indian must submit to our ways of living and 
our laws because they are better than his ; and that, as he has 
made no improvement on the land, and has no legal title-deeds, 
he can have no right to it that a civilized being is bound to 
recognize. Let the emigrants, as they pour into the country, 
shove the old lords of the soil back ; hire them if they choose to 
work ; punish them if they break the laws, and treat them as 
poor whites have to be treated. Leave the struggle between the 
two races entirely to the principle of natural selection, and let 
the weaker go to the wall. This course has been practically 
followed in many parts of America. It has led to frightful 
atrocities on both sides, in which the superior vigour of the 
civilized man has outmatched the native ferocity of the savage. 
The Indian in such competition for existence, soon realizing his 
comparative weakness, had recourse to the cunning that the 
inferior naturally opposes to the superior strength. This irritated 
even the well-disposed white, who got along honestly, and 
believed that honesty was the best policy. It was no wonder 
that, after a few exchanges of punishment and vengeance, the 
conviction would become general that the presence of the 



PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 95 

Indian was inconsistent with public security ; that he was a 
nuisance to be abated ; and that it was not wise to scrutinize 
too closely, what was done by miners who had to look out for 
themselves, or by the troops who had been called in to protect 
settlers. The Indians had no newspapers to tell how miners 
tried their rifles on an unoffending Indian at a distance, for the 
pleasure of seeing the poor wretch jump when the bullet struck 
him ; or how, if a band had fine horses, a charge was trumped 
up against them, that the band might be broken up and the 
horses stolen ; or how the innocent were indiscriminately 
slaughtered with the guilty ; or how they were poisoned by 
traders with bad rum, and cheated till left without gun, horse, or 
blanket. This policy of giving: to the simple children of the forest 
and prairie, the blessings of unlimited free-trade, and bidding them 
look after their own interests, has not been a success. The frightful 
cruelties connected with it and the expense it has entailed, have 
forced many to question whether the ! fire and sword ' plan 
would not have been 'cheaper and, perhaps, more humane.* 

The third way, called, sometimes, the paternal, is to go down to 
the Indian level when dealing with them ; go at least half-way 
down ; explain that, whether they wish it or not, immigrants will 
come into the country, and that the Government is bound to seek 
the good of all the races under its sway, and do justly by the 
white as well as by the red man ; offer to make a treaty with them 
on the principles of allotting to them reserves of land that no 
one can invade, and that they themselves cannot alienate, 
giving them an annual sum per family in the shape of useful 
articles, establishing schools among them and encouraging 
missionary effort, and prohibiting the sale of intoxicating 
liquors to them. When thus approached, they are generally 
reasonable in their demands ; and it is the testimony of all com- 
petent authorities that, when a treaty is solemnly made with 
them, that is, according to Indian ideas of solemnity, they 



96 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

keep it sacredly. They only break it when they believe that the 
other side has broken faith first. 

Such has been the policy of the old Canadas and of the 
Dominion, and it is now universally adopted in America. True, 
the agents of the United States Government have often defeated 
its attempts to do justice and show mercy, by wholesale frauds ; 
and the Indians, believing themselves deceived, have risen with 
bursts of fury to take vengeance ; and, like all children, if 
deceived once, they are very unwilling to believe you the next 
time. General Howard has therefore advised this year the 
removal of many of the Indian agents, with the remark that 
"when agents pay $15,000 for a position, the salary of which is 
only $1500, there must be something wrong," But this corrup- 
tion of individual agents is a mere accident, an accident that 
seems to be inseparable from the management of public affairs 
in the Republic. The great thing is that the United States 
Government has taken its stand firmly on the ground that the 
Indians are to be neither exterminated nor abandoned to them- 
selves, but protected and helped. In a letter to George II. 
Stewart, dated October 28th, 1872, President Grant writes with 
his customary directness and plainness of speech : " If the 
present policy towards the Indians can be improved in any way, 
I will always be ready to receive suggestions on the subject ; 
but If any change is made, it must be made on the side of the 
civilization and christianization of the Indians. I dcuiot believe 
our Creator ever placed the different races of men on this earth 
with the view of the stronger exerting all his energies in exter- 
minating the weaker." 

It may be said that, do what we like, the Indians as a race, 
must eventually die out. It is not unlikely. Almost all the 
Indians in the North-west are scrofulous. But, on the other hand, 
in the United States and in Canada, they exist, in not a few 
cases, as christianized self-supporting communities, and have 



PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 97 

multiplied and prospered. These are beginning to ask for 
full freedom. It was all right, they argue, to forbid us to 
sell our lands, when we did not know their value, and to 
keep us as wards when wecould not take care of ourselves ; 
but it is different now ; we are grown men ; and it is an 
injustice to prevent us from making the most we can out of 
our own. 

At all events, there are no Indian difficulties in our North-west. 
For generations the H. B. Company governed the tribes in a 
semi-paternal way, the big children often being, rude and noisy, 
sometimes plundering a fort, or even maltreating a factor, but, 
in the end, returning to their allegiance, as, without the Company, 
they could not get tea or tobacco, guns or powder, blankets or 
trinkets. 

Since the transfer of the country to the Dominion the Indians 
have been anxious for treaties, except when operated on by 
foreign influences. In the year 1871, Governor Archibald made 
a treaty at the Stone Fort, or Lower Fort Garry, with the Ojibbe- 
ways and Swampy Crees, the only two tribes in his Province, 
and a second treaty with the Indians further north, as 
far as- Lake Winnipegosis and Beren's River, and to the west 
as far as Fort Ellice. This second treaty comprises a tract of 
country two or three times as large as Manitoba. About four 
thousand Indians assembled on those occasions, and, after a good 
deal of preliminary feasting, consulting, and pow-wowmg, 
arrangements were made with them. The objects aimed'at by 
the Governor and the Indian Commissioner were to extinguish 
the Indian title to the land, and, at the same time, do substantial 
justice and give satisfaction to the Indians. These objects were 
accomplished. 

The treaty-making process is interesting, as illustrative of 

several points in the Indian character. Though it took ten days 

to make the first, yet, in the light lately thrown on the difficul- 
G 



9$ OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

ties of drawing up a treaty that shall express the same thing 
to both parties, the time cannot be considered unreasonably 
long. 

The Indians first elected chiefs and spokesmen to represent 
them. On these being duly presented and invited to state their 
views, they said that there was a cloud before them which made 
things dark, and they did not wish to commence the proceedings 
till the cloud was dispersed. It was found that they referred to 
four Swampies who were in prison for breach of contract, and 
the tribe felt that it would be a violation of the brotherly 
covenant to enter upon a friendly treaty, unless an act of indem- 
nity were passed in favour of the four. As they begged their 
discharge on the plea of grace and not of right, the Governor 
acceded to their petition ; and the Indians thereupon declared 
that henceforth they would never raise a voice against the law 
being enforced. 

The real business then commenced. Being told to state their 
views on reserves and annuities, they did so very freely and, 
substantially, to the effect that about two-thirds of the province 
should be reserved for them. But when it was explained that 
their great mother must do justly to all her children, " to those 
of the rising sun as well as to those of the setting sun," and that 
it would not be fair to give much more than a good farm for 
each family, they assented. Fortunately the Governor could 
point out to them a settlement of christianized Ojibbeways, num- 
bering some four hundred, between the Stone Fort and the 
mouth of Red River, as a proof that Indians could live, 
prosper, and provide like the white man. This mission was 
established by Archdeacon Cochrane, and has now a full- 
blooded Indian for its clergyman. Many of them have well- 
built houses and well-tilled fields, with wheat, barley, and 
potatoes growing, and giving promise of plenty for the coming 
winter. 



PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 99 

The Indians df this district form a parish of their own, called 
St. Peter's, and return a member to the House of Assembly ; 
they have the honour of being represented by a gentleman who 
has successively held the offices of Minister of Agriculture, 
Provincial Secretary, and who is now Provincial Treasurer. 

In the end, it was agreed that reserves should be allotted 
sufficient to give one hundred and sixty acres to each family 
of five ; that the Queen should maintain a school on each 
reserve when the Indians required it ; and that no intoxicating 
liquors be allowed to be introduced or sold within the bounds of 
the reserves ; also, that each family of five should receive an 
annuity of $15, in blankets, clothing, twine, or traps ; and, as a 
mark of Her Majesty's satisfaction with the good behaviour of 
Her Indians, and as a seal to the treaty, or Indian luckpenny, a 
present of $3 be given to each man, woman, and child. Every 
one being satisfied, the treaty was signed, the big ornamented 
calumet of peace smoked all round, and the Governor then 
promised each chief a buggy, to his unbounded delight. 

One important consequence of these Indians being pleased is 
that the Indians farther west having heard the news are all 
anxious for treaties, and have been on their good behaviour ever 
since. 



CHAPTER V. 

From Manitoba to Fort Carlton o?i the North Saskatchewan. 

.Fine fertile country.— The water question.— Duck shooting.— Salt Lakes.— Camping on the 
plains- — Fort EUice.— Qu'appelle Valley. — " Souzie."— The River Assiniboine. — The 
Buffalo.— Cold nights.— Rich soil. —Lovely Country. —Little Touchwood Hills.— Cause 
of prairie fires.— A day of rest.— Prairie uplands.— Indian family.— Buffalo skulls-— 
Desolate tract. — Quill Lake.— Salt water.— Broken prairie. — Round hill.— Prairie 
fire.— Rich black soil.— Magnificent Panorama.— Break-neck speed.— The South 
Saskatchewan. — Sweethearts and wives.— Fort Carlton. —Free traders. — The 
Indians.— Crop raising. 

August 5th. — This morning it rained heavily, and delayed us 
a little ; but, by the time we had our morning cup or pannikin 
of tea, the carts packed, and everything in its place, the 
weather cleared up. We got away at 5 A.M., and rode sixteen 
miles before breakfast ; reaching " Pine Creek," a favorite 
camping ground ; still following up the course of the Assini- 
boine, though never coming near enough to get a sight of it, 
after leaving our first camp from Fort Garry. The next stage 
was fourteen miles to ' Bog Creek,' and, after dinner, eleven miles 
more, making forty-one for the day. Instead of the level prairie 
of the two preceding days, and the black peaty loam, we had an 
undulating and more wooded country, with soil of sandy loam 
of varying degrees of richness. Here and there ridges of sand 
dunes, covered, however, with vegetation, sloped to the south, 
having originally drifted from the north, probably from the 
Riding Mountains of which they may be considered the outlying 
spurs. From the top of any one of these, a magnificent view 
can be had. At our feet a park-like country stretched far out, 
studded with young oaks ; vast expanses beyond, extending 
on the north to the Riding Mountains, and on the south to the 
Tortoise Mountain on the boundary line ; a beautiful country 

extending hundreds of square miles without a settler, though 
(100) 



MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. IOI 

there is less bad land in the whole of it than there is in the little 
peninsula of Halifax, or within five or ten miles of any of our 
eastern cities. This almost entire absence of unproductive land 
is to us very wonderful. If we except the narrow range of sand- 
hills, there is actually none ; for the soil, even at their base, is a 
light sandy loam which would yield a good return to the farmer. 
The soil about these hills is not what is usually termed prairie, 
and is not equal to prairie. Its flora is not that of the prairie. 
Both soil and flora are like those of the Rice Lake plains, and 
the County of Simcoe in Ontario, where excellent wheat crops 
are raised. The only question, suggestive of a doubt, that came 
up was the old one of " Is there plenty of water ?" The rivers 
are few ; the creeks small. Along their banks there is no diffi- 
culty, but what of the intervening ground ? We had heard of 
wells sunk in different places, and good water found from four 
to fifty feet down. But, yesterday, Grant informed us that a 
beautiful stretch of prairie, immediately to the west of his loca- 
tion, which had been taken up by a friend of his, had been 
abandoned because no water could be got. They had sunk wells 
in three places, one of them to the depth of seventy-five feet, 
but pierced only hard white clay. Grant believed that this 
stratum of clay extended over a limited area, and that, under it, 
water would be tapped if they went deep enough. But the 
matter is of too great importance to be left to conjecture. Test- 
wells should be sunk by the Government in different places ; and 
even where there are saline or brackish lakes, or even should the 
first water tapped prove saline, artesian wells might be tried, so 
as to get to the fresh water beneath. Till it is certain that good 
water can be easily had- all over the prairie, successful coloniza- 
tion on a large scale cannot be expected. The general belief is 
that there is water enough everywhere. There is an abundant 
rain fall, and the water does not form little brooks and run off", 
but is absorbed by the rich, deep, porous ground. Still the claims 



102 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

of our North-west on the attention of emigrants would be 
rendered all the stronger, were they assured that the water 
supply was unfailing everywhere. Up to this time the question 
has not been started, because much of the land on the river- 
banks has not yet been taken up. But it would be well to be 
prepared with an answer. 

Nothing could be more exhilarating than our rides across the 
prairie, especially the morning ones. The weather, since our 
arrival at Fort Garry, had been delightful, and we knew that we 
had escaped the sultry heat of July, and were just at the com- 
mencement of the two pleasantest months of the year. The 
nights were so cool that the blanket was welcome, and in the 
evenings and mornings we could enjoy the hot tea. The air 
throughout the day was delicious, fresh, flower-scented, 
healthful, and generally breezy, so that neither horse nor rider 
was warm after a fifteen or twenty miles' ride. We ceased to 
wonder that we had not heard of a case of sickness in one of the 
settlers' families. Each day was like a new pic-nic. Even the 
short, terrific, thunder storm of the day before yesterday had 
been enjoyed because of its grandeur. Grant told us that it was 
the heaviest he had ever seen in the country, and that we had 
felt its full force. Three miles away there had been no hail. 

August 6th. — Up before four A.M., but were delayed some 
time by the difficulty of lassoing the horses that were wanted. 
The Doctor had, meanwhile, some shooting round the little 
lake by which we had camped ; and getting some more on the 
way, Terry, the cook, was enabled to serve up plover, duck and 
pigeons, with rice curry for breakfast. Our morning's ride was 
sixteen miles, and brought us to the Little Saskatchewan, — a 
swift-flowing pebbly-bottomed stream, running south into the 
Assiniboine. Its valley was about two miles wide and two 
hundred and fifty feet deep. All the rivers of the North-west 
have this peculiarity of wide valleys, and it constitutes a serious 



MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON, 10$ 

difficulty in the way of railroad making ; they must be crossed, 
but regular bridging on so gigantic a scale is out of the ques- 
tion. The hill sides sloping down into the valley or intervale of 
the river are green and rounded, with clumps of trees, most of 
them fire-scorched, in the depressions. 

We hailed the sight of this flowing stream with peculiar 
delight ; for it was the first thing that looked, to our eyes, like a 
river in all the hundred and twenty miles since leaving the 
Assiniboine. The creeks crossed on the way were sluggish and 
had little water in them, and most of the swamps and lakelets 
were dried up, and their bottom covered with rank coarse grass, 
instead of the water that fills them in the spring. This 
morning, however, we passed by several pretty- well-filled lakes, — 
plover and snipe about most of them — on the " height of land," 
from which the ground slopes toward the Little Saskatchewan. 

Our second stage for the day was only eleven miles ; but the 
next was fourteen, and we drove or rode along the winding road 
at a rattling pace, reaching our camping ground, at Salt Lake, 
an hour before sunset. This lake is bitter or brackish, but, 
on the opposite side of the road, there is good water ; and, 
although the mosquitoes gave us a little trouble, here we fared 
well — as at all our camps. This was the first saline lake we had 
seen, but farther north on the way to Edmonton, there are many 
such; and grievous has been the disappointment of weary 
travellers, on drawing near to one of them and preparing to 
camp. The causes are probably local, for good water is found 
near, and, all around, the grass is as luxuriant as elsewhere. A 
white crust forms on the dried up part of the bottom and the 
shores are covered with marine plants, chiefly reddish-colored, 
thick, succulent samphire and sea-blite growing together and 
extending over several acres of ground. The salt in these lakes 
is sulphate of soda. 

A bathe in the little Saskatchewan before breakfast was our 



104 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

first good wash for two or three days, and we enjoyed it propor- 
tionately. Our horses did their forty-one miles to-day, seemingly 
with greater ease than they had any previous day's work. Most 
of them are of pure native breed ; some of them — the largest- 
have been crossed with Canadian, and the swiftest with Yankee 
breeds. In all our pack there are only two or three bad horses ; 
none of them looked well at first, but, though small and com- 
mon looking, they are so patient, hardy and companionable, that 
it is impossible for their riders to avoid becoming attached to 
them. Hardly two of the saddles provided for our party were 
alike. There was choice of English, American, and Mexican 
military, — the first kind being the general favorite. 

August 7th. — Made a good day's journey of forty-five miles, 
from the Salt Lake to the junction of the Qu'Appelle and 
Assiniboine rivers. The first stage was ten miles, to the " Shoal 
Lake " — a large and beautiful sheet of water with a pebbly or 
sandy beach — a capital place for a halt or for camping. The 
great requirements of such spots are wood, water, and feed for 
the horses ; the traveller has to make his stages square with the 
absence or presence of those essentials. If he can get a hilly spot 
where there are few mosquitoes, and a sheet of water large enough 
to bathe in, and a resort of game, so much the better. Arrived 
at the ground, the grassiest and most level spots, gently sloping, 
if possible, that the head may be higher than the feet, are 
selected. The tents are pitched over these, one tent being 
allotted to two persons, when comfort is desirable, though some- 
times a dozen crowd inside of one. A waterproof is spread on 
the ground, and, over that, a blanket. Each man has another 
blanket to pull over him, and he may be sound asleep ten 
minutes after arriving at the ground, if he has not to cook or wait 
for his supper. The horses need very little attention ; the 
harness is taken off and they are turned loose — the leaders or 
most turbulent ones being hobbled, i. e. t their fore feet are 



MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 105 

fettered with intertwined folds of shaganappi or raw buffalo 
hide, so that they can only move about by a succession of short 
jumps. Hobbling is the western substitute for tethering. They 
find out, or are driven to, the water, and, immediately after, begin 
grazing around ; next morning they are ready for the road. A 
morning's swim and wash in Shoal Lake was a great luxury, 
and the Doctor had some good shooting at ducks, loons, 
yellowlegs, and snipe. 

Our second stage was twenty-one miles to " Bird's Tail 
Creek," a pretty little running stream, with valley nearly as wide, 
and banks as high, as the Little Saskatchewan. It is wonderful 
to see the immense breadth of valley that insignificant creeks, in 
land where they have not to cut their way through rocks, have 
eroded in the course of ageSc 

At this creek, we were only twelve miles distant from Fort 
Ellice. The true distance from Fort Garry, as measured by our 
odometer being two hundred and fifteen miles, and not two 
hundred and thirty-one, as stated on Palliser's map and 
by Captain Butler in his book. As our course lay to the north 
of Fort Ellice, the Chief and two of the party went on ahead to 
get provisions and half a dozen Government horses that had 
been left to winter there, and to attend to some business, while 
the rest followed the direct trail and struck the edge of the 
plateau overlooking the Assiniboine, — which was running south 
— just where the Qu'Appelle joined it from the west. The 
view from this point is magnificent ; between two and three 
hundred feet below, extending far south and then winding to the 
east, was the valley of the Assiniboine, — at least two miles wide. 

Opposite us, the Qu'Appelle joined it, and both ran so slowly, 
that the united river meandered through the intervale, as 
circuitously as the links of the Forth, cutting necks and promon- 
tories of land that seemed, and were, almost islands, some of 
them soft and grassy, and others covered with willows or timber. 



106 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

The broad open valley of the Qu'Appelle stretched along to 
the west, making a grand break in what would otherwise have 
been an unbroken plateau of prairie. Three miles to the south 
of this valley, and therefore opposite us but farther down, two or 
three small white buildings on the edge of the plateau were 
pointed out as Fort Ellice. To the north of the Qu'Appelle, the 
sun was dipping behind woods far away on the edge of the 
horizon, and throwing a mellow light on the vast expanse which 
spread around in every direction. 

We descended to the intervale by a much-winding path, and 
moved on north a little to the " crossing " three miles above the 
Fort, and immediately above where the Qu'Appelle flows into 
the main river. Scarcely had the tents been pitched and the 
fires lighted, when the Chief appeared bringing supplies of flour, 
pemmican, dried meat, salt, etc., from Fort Ellice. He reported 
that there were several parties of Indians about the Fort, who 
had emigrated two or three years ago from the United States, 
anxious to settle in British territory. One of them, from Ohio, 
spoke good English, and from him he gained the information 
about them. 

The first portion of the journey from Fort Garry is considered 
to extend to Fort Ellice, and we had accomplished it in less 
than six days. The last stage had been over the worst road — a 
road winding between broad hill-sides strewn with granite 
boulders, and lacking only brawling streams and foaming fells 
to make it like Moffatdale, and many another similar dale in 
the south of Scotland. But here there never had been bold 
moss troopers, and there were no " Tales of the Borders." 
Crees, and Sioux and Ojibbeways may have gone in the war 
path against each other, and have hunted the buffalo over the 
plains to the west, but there has been no Walter Scott or even 
Wilson to gather up and record their legends, and hand down the 
fame of thei* braves. And there are no sheep grazing on those 



MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 107 

rich hill-sides, and there was neither wigwam, steading, nor 
shieling on the last hundred and sixty miles of road. Silence 
reigned everywhere, broken only by the harsh cry of wild fowl 
rising from lakelets, Jor the grouse-like whirr of the prairie hen 
on its short flight. We had seen but a small part, and that by 
no means the best of the land. The trail follows along the 
ridges, where there is a probability of its being dry for most of 
the year, as it was not part of its object to shew the fertility of the 
country or its suitableness for settlers. But we had seen enough 
to show that, even east of Fort Ellice, there is room for a large 
population. Those great breadths of unoccupied land are calling 
1 come, plough, sow, and reap us.' The rich grass is destroyed 
by the autumn fires, which a spark kindles, and which destroy 
also the wood, which formerly was of larger size and much more 
abundant than now. This destruction of wood seriously affects 
the water supply. Lakes that once had water all the year 
round are now dry, except in the spring time. But, when 
settlers come in, all this shall be changed. The grass will be 
cut at the proper time, and stacked for the cattle, and then 
there shall not be the wide spreading dried fuel to feed the fires, 
and give them ever increasing force. Fields of ploughed land, 
interspersed here and there, shall set bounds to the flames, and 
tourists and travellers will be less likely to leave their camp-fires 
burning, when they know that there are settlers near, whose 
property would be endangered, and who therefore would not 
tolerate criminal carelessness on the part of strangers. 

8th August. — Being in the neighbourhood of a fort, and having 
to re-arrange luggage and look after the new horses, we did not 
get away till nine o'clock. An hour before, greatly to the 
surprise of Emilien, — for he had calculated on keeping in 
advance the twenty-two miles he had gained on Sunday, — and 
greatly to our delight, Mr. McDougal drove up and rejoined us 
with his man " Souzie." Souzie had never been east before, and 



108 , OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

the glories of Winnepeg had fairly dazzled him. He was going 
home heavy-laden with wonderful stories of all he had seen ; — 
the crowd hearing Mr. Punshon preach and the collection taken 
up at the close, the review of the battalion of militia, the splendour 
of the village stores, the Red River steamboat, the quantities of 
rum, were all amazing. When the plate came round at the 
church Souzie rejoiced, and was going to help himself, but, 
noticing his neighbors put money in, he was so puzzled that he 
let it pass. He chuckled for many a day at the simplicity of 
the Winnepeggers : — " Who ever before saw a plate handed 
round except to take something from it ?" The review excited 
his highest admiration : — " Wah, wah ! wonderful ! I have seen 
a hundred men turned into one !" 

Our first work this morning was to cross the Assiniboine. 

The ford was only three feet deep, but the bottom was of 

shifting sand, so that it did not do to let the horses stand still 

while crossing The bank on the west side is bold, and the sand 

so deep, that it is a heavy pull up to the top. After ascending, 

we moved west for the first few miles along the north bank of 

the Qu'Appelle. The Botanist went down to the intervale and 

sand-hills near the stream, to inspect the flora, and was rewarded 

by finding half-a-dozen new species. We soon turned in a more 

northerly direction, though, had there been a fortnight to spare, 

some of us would have liked to have gone a hundred miles up the 

Qu'Appelle, where, we had been told yesterday by a Scotch 

half-breed, called Mackay, that the buffalo were in swarms. 

Mackay was on his way back to Fort Garry with the spoils of 

his hunt. He had left home with his wife and seven children 

and six carts, late in May, joined a party at Fort Ellice and 

gone up to the high plains, where the source of the Qu'Appelle 

is, near the elbow of the South Saskatchewan, and obtained his 

food for the year in the way most pleasing to a half-breed. They 

had all lived sumptuously while near the buffalo, and when they 



MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. IO9 

had dried enough meat to fill their carts, at the rate of ten 
buffalos to a cart, they parted company ; and he and his wife, 
with the meat and skins, turned homewards, to do little for the 
rest ot the year, but enjoy themselves. This is all very well 
when the buffalo are plenty ; but as they get scarcer or move 
farther away, what is to be done ? A man cannot be both a 
hunter and a farmer ; and, therefore, as the buffalo go west, so 
will the half-breeds. 

But, fascinating as a buffalo-hunt seemed, described in all the 
glowing language and gesticulations of a successful hunter, the 
time could not be spared, and so we jogged along our road, 
hoping that we might fall in with the lord of the prairies as far 
north as Carlton or Fort Pitt. 

The first part of the day's ride, like the last part of the 
previous day's, was over the poorest ground we had seen — light 
and sandy — and yet the grass nowhere presented the dried up, 
crisp, brownish look that is so often seen in the eastern 
provinces at this time of the year. Still the land about Fort 
Ellice is not to be recommended, especially when there is so 
much of the very best waiting to be cultivated. 

Nine miles from the Assiniboine, we breakfasted beside a 
spring in the marsh where the water is good, but where a barrel 
or some such thing, sunk in the ground, would be desirable. This 
is every traveller's business, and, therefore, is not done. We are 
now in " No man's Land ;" — where the Governor of Manitoba 
has a nominal jurisdiction, but where there are no taxes and no 
laws ; where every man does what is right in his own eyes, and 
prays that the great Manitou would prosper him in his horse, 
stealing or scalping expeditions. 

Our next stage was twenty-two miles to "Broken Arm River" 
— a pretty little stream with the usual deep and broad valley. 
The soil improved as we travelled west. The grass was richer, 
and much of the flora that had disappeared for the previous 



HO OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

twenty miles began to show again. On the banks of the river 
there was time before tea to indulge in a great feast of raspber- 
ries, as we camped early in the evening, after having travelled 
only thirty-one miles. The Botanist had found exactly that 
number of new species, — the largest number by far on any one 
day since leaving Fort Garry. The explanation is, that he had the 
valleys of two rivers and several varieties of soil to botanize over. 

August 9th. — Last night the thermometer fell to 34 ° , and we 
all suffered from the cold, not being prepared for such a sudden 
change. There was heavy dew, as there always is on prairies, and 
at four o'clock, when we came out ot the tents, shivering a little, 
the cold wet grass was comfortless enough ; but a warm cup of 
tea around the camp fire put all right. We were on horseback 
before sunrise, and a trot of thirteen miles, over a beautiful and 
somewhat broken country, fitted us for breakfast. Mr. McDougal 
told us that in the elevated part of the country in which we 
were, extending north-west from Fort Ellice, light frosts were 
not unusual in July or August. They are not so heavy as 
seriously to injure grain crops ; but still they must be 
regarded as an unpleasant feature in this section of the country. 
The general destruction of the trees by fires makes a recurrence 
of these frosts only too likely, till some action is taken to stop 
the real fountain ox all the eviU. If there were forests, there would 
be a greater rainfall, less heavy dews, and probably no frosts. 
But it will be little use for the government to issue proclama- 
tions in reference to the extinguishing of camp-fires, until there 
are settlers here and there, who will see to their observance for 
their own interest. Settlers will plant trees, or give a chance of 
growing to those that sow themselves, cut the grass, and prevent 
the spread of fires. But settlers will not come, till there is a rail- 
road to bring them in. 

Our second stage for the day was sixteen miles over an 
excellent road and through a country that evoked spontaneous 



MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. Ill 

bursts of admiration from every one. The prairie was more 
than rolling, it was undulating ; broken into natural fields by 
the rounded hillocks and ridges crowned with clumps of aspens 
■ — too often, alas ! fire-scathed. In the hollows grew tall, rich, 
grass which would never be mowed ; everywhere else, even on 
the sandy ridges, was excellent pasture. 

We met a half-breed travelling, with dried meat and buffalo, 
skins, to Fort Garry, in his wooden cart covered with a cotton 
roof, and he informed us that men were hunting, two days' 
journey ahead, about the Touchwood Hills. This excited our 
men to the highest pitch, for the buffalo have not come on this 
route for many years, and eager hopes were exchanged that we 
might see and get a shot at them. Wonderful stories were told 
of the buffalo-hunts in former days, and men, hitherto taciturn, 
perhaps because they knew little English (more, however, than 
we knew of French or Indian, which they all spoke fluently) 
began explaining volubly — eking out their meaning with ex- 
pressive gesticulation, — the nature of a buffalo hunt. Fine fellows 
all our half-breeds were as far as riding, hunting, campings 
dancing and such like were concerned ; though they would have 
made but poor farm-servants. Two of them had belonged to 
Riel's body-guard in the days of his little rebellion. The 
youngest was Willie, a boy of sixteen, who rode and lassoed, and 
raged, and stormed, and swore on the slightest provocation, better 
than any of them. He looked part of the horse when on his 
back, and never shirked the roughest work. We were horrified 
at his ready profanity however, and the Doctor rowed him up 
about it ; but, though they all liked the Doctor, for he had 
physicked two or three of them successfully, and had even bound 
up the sore leg of one oi the horses better than they could, the 
jawing had no effect. The Secretary then tried his hand. 
Finding that Willie believed in his father, an adventurous 
daring Scot, who had married a squaw, he accosted him one day 



112 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

when none of the others were near, with, " Willie, would you like 
to hear me yelling out your father's name, with shameiul words 
among strangers ? " He looked up with a half-puzzled, half- 
defiant air, and shook his head. " Well, how can I like to hear 
you shouting out bad language about my best friend ? " A few 
more words "on that line" and Willie was ' converted.' We 
heard no more oaths from him except the mild ones, " By 
George," byjing," or "by Golly," and in many an ingenious 
way thereafter he showed a sneaking fondness for the Secretary. 

We rested to-day for dinner on a hillock beside two deep 
pools of water, and the Doctor made us some capital soup from 
preserved tomatoes and mutton. Ten or eleven miles from our 
dining table brought us to the end of this section of wooded 
country, where we had intended to camp for the night, but the 
ponds were empty and no halt could be made. We therefore 
pushed on across a vast treeless plain, twenty miles wide, with 
the knowledge that if there was no water in a marsh beside a 
solitary tree four miles ahead, we would have to go off the road 
for five miles to get some, and, as the sun was setting, the 
prospect for the first time looked a little gloomy. Making 
rapidly for the lonely tree, enough water for ourselves and horses 
was found, and with hurrahs from the united party, the tents 
were pitched. Forty-two and a half miles, the odometer shewed 
to be our day's travel. 

August ioth. — The night of the 8th having been so cold, we 
divided out more blankets the following evening by dispensing 
with one tent, and sleeping three, instead ox two, in each. The 
precaution turned out to be unnecessary, though we kept it up 
afterwards for the nights were always cool. This feature Oi cool 
nights after hot days is an agreeable surprise to those who know 
how different it is in inland countries, or wherever there is no sea 
breeze. It is one 01 the causes 01 the healthy appearance of the 
new settlers even in the summer months. In the hottest season 



MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. II3 

of the year the nights are cool on these prairies and the dews 
abundant, except when the sky is covered with clouds, and then 
there is usually rain. No wonder that the grass keeps green 
when elsewhere it is dry and grey. 

Our morning's ride was across sixteen miles of the great plain, 
four miles from the easterly edge of which we had camped. The 
Secretary walked the distance, and got into the breakfast-place 
ten minutes after the mounted party. A morning's walk or ride 
across such an open has a wonderfully exhilarating effect. The 
air is so pure that it acts as a perpetual gentle stimulant, and so 
bracing that little fatigue is felt, even after unusual exertion ; 
seldom is a hair turned on either horse or man. 

The plain was not an unbroken expanse but a succession of 
very shallow basins, enclosed in one large basin, itself shallow, 
from the run of which you could look across the whole, whereas, 
at the bottom of one of the smaller basins, the horizon was 
exceedingly limited. No sound broke the stillness except the 
chirp of the gopher, or prairie squirrel, running to his hole in 
the ground. The character of the soil every few yards could be 
seen from the fresh earth, that the moles had scarcely finished 
throwing up. It varied from the richest of black peaty loam, 
crumbled as if it had been worked by a gardener's hand for his 
pots, to a very light sandy soil. The ridges of the basins were 
often gravelly. Everywhere the pasturage was excellent, though 
it was tall enough for hay only in the depressions or marshy 
spots. 

Our two next stages carried us over twenty-five miles of a 

lovely country, known as the Little Touchwood Hills ; aspens 

were grouped on gentle slopes, or so thrown in at the right points 

of valley and plain, as to convey the idea oi distance and every 

other effect that a landscape gardener could desire. Lakelets and 

pools, fringed with willows, glistened out at almost every turn of 

the road — though many of them were saline. Only the manor- 
H 



114 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

houses and some gently-flowing streams were wanting, to make 
out a resemblance to the most beautiful parts ol England. For 
generations, all this boundless extent of beauty and wealth 
had been here, owned by England ; and yet statesmen had been 
puzzling their heads over the " Condition of England's Poor, 
the Irish Famine, the Land and Labor Questions," without once 
turning their eyes to a land that offered a practical solution to 
them all. And the beauty in former years had been still greater, 
for, though the fires have somehow been kept oft this district for 
a few years, it is not very long since both hardwood and ever- 
greens as well as willows and aspens, grew all over it ; and then, 
at every season of the year, it must have been beautiful. It is 
only of late years that fires have been frequent ; and they are so 
disastrous to the whole of our North-west that energetic action 
should be taken to prevent them. Formerly, when the Hudson's 
Bay Company was the only power in this " Great Lone Land," 
it was alive to the necessity of this, and very successful in 
impressing its views on the Indians as well as on its own servants. 
Each of its travelling parties carried a spade with which the 
piece of ground on which the fire was to be made was dug up, 
and as the party moved off, earth thrown on the embers 
extinguished them. But since miners, traders, tourists and others 
have entered the country, there has been a very different state of 
affairs. Some of the spring traders set fire to the grass round 
their camps, that it may grow up the better and be fresh on their 
return in autumn. The destruction of forests, the drying up of 
pools, and the extermination o. game by roasting the spring eggs, 
are all nothing compared to a little selfish advantage. And the 
Indians and the Hudson's Bay parties seeing this, have become 
nearly as reckless. 

This afternoon we had some idea of the lovely aspect that this 
country would soon assume, if protected from the fire-demon. 
The trees grow up with great rapidity ; in five or six years the 



MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 115 

aspens are thick enough for fencing purposes. There was good 
sport near the lake, and clumps of trees, and Frank shot prairie- 
hen, partridge and teal, for dinner and next day's breakfast. As 
he was confined to the roadside, and had no dog, he had but 
indifferent chances for a good bag. We had to push on to do 
our forty-one miles, and could not wait for sportsmen. At sunset 
the camp was selected, by a pond in the middle of a plain, away 
from the bush so as to avoid mosquitoes ; and as Emilien was 
tired enough by this time, he agreed readily to the proposal to 
rest on the following day. 

August nth. — Breakfast at 9 a. m., having allowed ourselves 
the luxury of a long sleep on the "Day of Rest." The water 
beside our camp was hard and brackish, scarcely drinkable in 
fact, and not good even to wash with. It gave an unpleasant 
taste to the tea, and even a dash of spirits did not neutralize its 
brackishness. Here again the necessity of finding out the real 
state of the water-supply to this country, was forced on our 
attention. Even if the pools do not all dry up, the water in them 
at this time of the year is only what is left of melted snow and 
the spring and summer rains, tainted with decayed vegetable 
matter, and filled with animalculse. The question must be satis- 
factorily settled ; for men must have pure water and plenty of it. 

This was a grand day for horses and men. Most of the latter 
rose early and had their breakfasts and then went to sleep again; 
others did not rise from under the carts and shake themselves 
out of their buffalo blankets, till after ten o'clock. At 11. 15 all 
assembled for service — Roman Catholics, Methodists, Episco- 
palians and Presbyterians. The Secretary sat on a box in front 
of the tents, with Frank by his side holding an umbrella over 
both heads, as the sun shone fiercely. The congregation, thirteen 
in number, sat in the doors, or shade of the tents. Mr. McDougal 
led the responses, and all joined in devoutly. After the service 
had been read and hymns sung, a short sermon was preached. 



Il6 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

The advantages of resting on the Lord's Day, on such expedi- 
tions as this, and also of uniting in some common form of 
worship, are very manifest. The physical rest is needed by man 
and beast. All through the week there has been a rush ; the 
camp begins to be astir at three in the morning, and from that 
hour till nine or ten at night, there is constant high pressure. 
At the halting places, meals have to be cooked, baggage 
arranged and re-arranged, horses looked to, harness mended, 
clothes washed or dried, and everything kept clean and trim ; 
rest is therefore impossible. From four to six hours of sleep are 
all that can be snatched. The excitement keeps a mere tourist 
up, so that on Saturday night he feels quite able to go ahead, 
but if he insists on pushing on, the strain soon becomes too 
much, and he loses all the benefit to his health that he had 
gained : and to the men there is none of the excitement oi 
novelty, and they therefore need the periodic rest all the 
more. 

But the great advantages of the day, to such a party, are lost 
if each man is left the whole time to look after himself, — as if 
there was no common bond of union, — to sleep, to gamble, to 
ramble, to shoot, to snare gophers, to read or write, and eat. 
Let the head of the party ask them to meet for common-prayer 
or some simple service, let it be ever so short ; all will come if 
they believe that they are welcome. The singing oi a hymn 
will bring them round the tent or hillock where the service is 
held ; and the kneeling together, the alternate reading, a few 
earnest kindly words, will do more than anything else to awaken 
old remembrances, to stir the better nature of all, to heal up 
little bitternesses, and give each that sentiment Oi common 
brotherhood that cements into one the whole party. 

The large body oi Canadians that preceded Milton and 
Cheadle in their journey across these same plains ten years ago, 
would hardly have held together, had it not been for their 



MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 117 

observance of the Sunday rest. In an account of their arduous 
expedition by this route to the Cariboo gold mines, one of 
themselves gives the following earnestly-worded testimony: — 
u The fatigues of the journey were now beginning to have 
an injurious effect upon our animals, as well as upon the 
tempers and dispositions of the men, and especially towards 
the end of the week were these effects more apparent, when 
frequent disagreements and petty disputes or quarrels of a more 
serious kind would take place, when each was ready to contradict 
the other, and, at the slightest occasion or without any occasion, 
to take offence. But to-morrow would be the Sabbath ; and no 
wonder that its approach should be regarded with pleasurable 
anticipations, as furnishing an opportunity for restoring the 
exhausted energies of both man and beast, for smoothing down 
the asperities of our natures, and by allowing us time for 
reflection, for regaining a just opinion of our duties towards one 
another ; and the vigor with which our journey would be 
prosecuted, and the cordiality and good feeling that characterized 
our intercourse after our accustomed rest on the first day of the 
week, are sufficient evidence to us that the law of the Sabbath 
is of physical as well as moral obligation, and that its precepts 
cannot be violated with impunity. We certainly have had much 
reason gratefully to adore that infinite wisdom and goodness 
that provided for us such a rest." — All which we endorse as the 
utterances of sound common sense. 

Our Sunday dinner was a good one. Terry had time and did 
his best. Soup made from canned tomatoes and canned meat 
gladdened our hearts. The Chief gave a little whiskey to the 
men, to take the bad taste from the water and kill the animal- 
culae ; and Emilien took as kindly to resting as if he had never 
travelled on Sundays in his life. 

The afternoon was sultry and thundery. Heavy showers, we 
could see, were falling ahead and all around, but, although the 



Il8 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

clouds threatened serious things, we got only a sprinkling, and 
the evening cleared up with a glorious sunset. 

After tea, Mr. McDougal led our " family worship." We did 
not ask the men to come, but the sound of the hymn brought 
them round, and they joined in the short service with devoutness, 
Willie, who had done a good day's work in snaring fat gophers, 
being particularly attentive. They were all thankful for the rest 
of the day. 

August 12th. — "The 12th" found us up early, as if near a 
highland moor, and away from camp a few minutes after sunrise. 
Another delightful day ; sunny and breezy. First stage, thirteen 
miles ; the second, sixteen, and the third, fourteen miles, or 
forty-three for the day ; every mile across a country of 
unequalled beauty and fertility ; of swelling uplands enclosing 
in their hollows lakelets, the homes of snipe, plover and duck, 
fringed with tall reeds, and surrounded with a belt of soft woods ; 
long reaches of rich lowlands, with hillsides spreading gently 
away from them, on which we were always imagining the houses 
of the owners ; avenues of whispering trees through which we 
rode on, without ever coming to lodge or gate. 

Our first " spell "* was through the most beautiful country, 
beautiful simply because longest spared by fire. Many of the 
aspens were from one to two feet in diameter. Most of the water 
was fresh, but probably not very healthy, for the lakes or ponds 
were shallow, and the water tainted by the annual deposition of 
an enormous quantity of decomposed organic matter. In 
summer when the water is low, it is difficult to get at it, 
because of the depth of the mire. When the buffalo ranged 
through this country and came to ponds to drink, they often 
sank so deep in the mud that they were unable to extricate 
themselves, especially if the foremost were driven on by those 

• The term " spell " is commonly used, all over the plains, to indicate the length of jour- 
ney between meals or stopping-places ; the latter are sometimes called spelling-plaoes, by 
half-breeds and others. 



MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 119 

behind, or the hunters were pressing them. The harder the poor 
beasts struggled, the deeper they sank ; till, resigning themselves 
to the inevitable, they have been known to disappear from sight 
and be trampled over by others of the herd. The old deeply 
indented trails of the herd, in the direction of the saline lakes, 
are still visible. They used to lick greedily the saline incrusta- 
tions round the border, as they do still when near such lakes, 
Like domestic cattle, they instinctively understand the medicinal 
value of salt. From this point of view, it is doubtful if the saline 
lakes will prove a serious disadvantage to the stock-raising farmer. 
In British Columbia and on the Pacific Coast generally, such 
lakes are found, and the cattle that are accustomed to the water, 
receive no injury from drinking it. 

On our way to dinner, two large white cranes rose swan-like 
from a wet marsh near the road. Frank with his gun and Willie 
with a stone made after them. The larger of the two flew high, 
but Willie's stone brought down the other. As he was seizing it, 
the big one, evidently the mother, attacked him, but, seeing the 
gun coming, flew up in time to save herself. The young one 
was a beautiful bird, the extended wings measuring over six feet 
from tip to tip. As soon as Willie had killed his game, he rode 
off in triumph with it slung across his shoulders. In twenty 
minutes after his arrival at camp, he and his mates had plucked, 
cooked, and disposed of it, all uniting in pronouncing the meat 
delicate and ' first-class.' 

After dinner a good chance of killing a brown" bear was lost. 
At a turn of the road he was surprised on a hillock, not twenty 
yards distant from the buckboard that led our cavalcade. Had 
the horsemen and guns been in front as usual, he could have 
been shot at once ; but, before they came up, he was off, at a 
shambling but rapid gait among the thickets, and there was not 
time to give chase. This was a disappointment, for all of us 
would have relished a bear-steak. 



120 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

The low line of the Touchwood Hills had been visible in the 
forenoon ; and, for the rest of the day's journey, we first skirted 
them in a north-westerly direction, and then, turning directly 
west, we gained their height by a road so winding and an 
ascent so easy, that there was no point at which we could look 
back and get an extended view of the ground travelled in the 
course of the afternoon. It is almost inaccurate to call this 
section of country by the name of " Hills," little or big. It is 
simply a series of prairie uplands, from fifty to eighty miles wide, 
that swell up in beautiful undulations from the level prairies 
on each side. They have no decided summits from which the 
ascent and the plain beyond can be seen ; but everywhere are 
grassy or wooded, rounded knolls, enclosing natural fields or 
farms, with small ponds in the windings and larger ones in the 
lowest hollows. The land everywhere is of the richest loam. 
Every acre that we saw might be ploughed. Though not as 
well suited for steam ploughs as the open prairie, in many 
respects this section is better adapted for farming purposes, 
being well wooded, well watered, and with excellent and natural 
drainage, not to speak of its wonderful beauty. All that it lacks 
is a murmuring brook or brawling burn ; but there is not one, 
partly because the trail is along the watershed. On a parallel 
road farther north that passes by Quill Lake, Mr. McDougal 
says that there are running streams, and that the country is, of 
course, all the more beautiful. 

Our camp for the night was beside two lakelets near forks 
where the road divides, one going northerly from our course to 
the old Touchwood trading-post, fifteen miles distant. 

So passed 'the 12th' with us. If we had not sweet-scented 
heather and Scotch grouse, we had duck and plover and prairie 
hen ; and, beside the cheery camp-fires under a cloudless star-lit- 
sky, we enjoyed our feast as heartily as any band of gypsies or 
sportsmen on the mcors. 



MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 121 

August 13th. — Heavy rain this morning which ceased at 
sunrise. Got off an hour after, and descended, in our first stage 
of fourteen and a half miles, the western side of the Touchwood 
Hills. This side is very much like the other ; the descent to us 
was so imperceptible that nowhere could we see far ahead or 
feel certain that we were descending, until the most western 
upland was reached, and then, beneath and far before us, stretched 
a seemingly endless sea of level prairie, a mist on the horizon 
giving it still more the look of a sea. Early in the morning we 
came upon two buffalo-tents by the roadside. In these were the 
first Indians we had fallen in with since meeting the Sioux at Rat 
Creek, with the exception of two or three tents at " the crossing " 
of the Assiniboine. They were two families of Bungys, (a section 
of the Salteaux or Ojibbeway tribe) who had been hunting 
buffalo on the prairie to the south-west of us. They had a good 
many skins on their carts, and the women were engaged at the 
door of a tent chopping up the fat and meat to make pemmican. 
Marchaud, our guide, at once struck " a trade " with them, a 
few handfuls of tea for several pieces of dried buffalo meat. The 
men seemed willing that he should take as much as he liked, but 
the oldest squaw haggled pertinaciously over each piece, and 
chuckled and grinned horribly when she succeeded in snatching 
away from him the last piece he was carrying off. She was the 
only ugly being in their camp. The men had straight delicate 
features, with little appearance of manly strength in their limbs ; 
hair nicely trimmed and plaited. Two or three young girls were 
decidedly pretty, and so were the little pappooses. The whole 
party would have been taken for good looking gypsies in 
England. 

The road on this stage was the worst we had travelled over ; 
so full of ruts and boulders that the axle of one of the carts 
snapped, and as there was not time to make another, the cart had 
to be abandoned by the road-side till Emilien's return from 



122 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

Carlton. It was a marvel how well those Red River carts stood 
out all the jolting they got. When any part broke before, a 
thong of Shaganappi had united the pieces. Shaganappi in this 
part of the world does all that leather, cloth, rope, nails, glue, 
straps, cord, tape, and a number of other articles are used 
for elsewhere. Without it the Red River cart, which is simply 
a clumsy looking, but really light, box cart with wheels six or 
seven feet in diameter, and not a bit of iron about the whole 
concern, would be an impossibility. These high wheeled carts 
cross the miry creeks, borne up by the grass roots, when ordinary 
waggons would sink to the hubs. 

After breakfast we entered on a vast plain that stretched put on 
every side, but the one we had left, to the horizon. This had 
once been a favourite resort of the buffalo, and we passed in the 
course of the day more than a score of skulls that were 
bleaching on the prairie. All the other bones had been of 
course chopped and boiled by the Indian women for the oil in 
them. The Chief picked up two or three of the best skulls to 
send as specimens to Ottawa. Great was " Souzie's" amazement 
at such an act He had been amused at the Botanist gathering 
flowers and grasses ; but the idea of a great O-ghe-ma coming 
hundreds of miles, to carry home bones without any marrow in 
them, was inexplicable. He went up to Frank and explained 
by gestures that they were quite useless, and urged him to throw 
them out of the buckboard, and when Frank shook his head he 
appealed to Mr. McDougal to argue with us. All his efforts 
failing, he gave it up ; but whenever his eyes caught sight of 
the skulls it was too much for even Indian gravity, and off he 
would go into fits of laughing at the folly of the white men. 

Our second " spell " was nineteen, and the third, nine miles 
across this treeless desolate-looking prairie. Towards evening 
the country became slightly broken and wooded, but we had 
to camp on a spot where there was not enough wood to make 



MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 1 23 

the fires for the night. Knowing this, Marchaud passed the 
word to the men on horseback, two or three miles before arriving 
at the camp. They dashed into a thicket, pitched some small 
dead dry wood into the carts, and then each throwing an 
uprooted tree from fifteen to twenty-five feet long, and four to six 
inches in diameter across his shoulders or on the pommel of his 
saddle, cantered off with it, Sancho Panza like, as easily as if it 
'*a§ only a long whip. They had done this several times before, 
Willie generally picking out the biggest tree to carry, and, no 
matter how unwieldy the load, they rode their horses firmly 
and gracefully as ever. 

The prairie crossed to-day extends north-easterly to Quill 
Lake, the largest of the salt lakes. Just on that account, and 
because all the ponds on it are saline, clearly shown, even where 
dried up, by the reddish samphire or white incrustations about 
the edges, one or two test wells should be sunk here; for if 
good water is found on this plain, it will likely be found every- 
where. 

To-day we had two opportunities of sending to Red River 
letters or telegrams for home, and — lest one should fail — availed 
ourselves of both. Tying our packets with red tape, to give 
them an official look and thus impress Posty with due care, and 
sealing the commission with a plug of tobacco, we trusted our 
venture with the comfortable feeling that we had re-established 
our communications with the outer world. * 

All day our men had been on the outlook for buffalo but 
without result. Marchaud rode in advance, gun slung across his 
shoulders, but although he scanned every corner of the horizon 
eagerly, and galloped ahead or on either side to any overhanging 
lip of the plateau, no herd or solitary bull came within his view. 

" It is only fair to mention that both messengers, one of them a French, the other a Scotch 
half-breed and parishioner of Mr. McDougal's, proved trusty. Every letter or telegram we 
sent from the plains reached home sooner than we had counted on. 



124 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

They were not far off, for fresh tracks were seen, few in com- 
parison to the tracks of former times, indented in the ground 
like old furrows and running in parallel lines to the salt lakes, as 
if in those days the whole prairie had been covered with wood, 
and the beasts had made their way through in long files of 
thousands. 

August 14th. — The thermometer fell below freezing point last 
night, but the additional allowance of blankets kept us warm 
enough. At sunrise there was a slight skiff of ice on some water 
in a bucket ; and, in the course of the morning's ride, we noticed 
some of the leaves of the more tender plants withered, but 
whether from the frost, or blight, or natural decay — they having 
reached maturity, — we could not determine. 

The sun rose clear, and the day like its predecessors was warm 
and bracing, the perfection of weather for travelling. We had 
hitherto been on " the height of land " that divides the streams 
running into the Assiniboine from those that run into the 
Qu Appelle, and this, in part, accounts for the absence of creeks 
near our road. To-day we got to a still higher elevation, the 
watershed of the South Saskatchewan, and found, in consequence, 
that the grass and flowers were in an advanced stage as compared 
with those farther east. The grass was grey and ripe, and 
flowers, that were in bloom not far away, were seeding here. The 
general upward slope of the plains between Red River and 
Lake Winnepeg, and the Rocky Mountains, is towards the west. 
The elevation at Fort Garry is 700 feet, at Fort Edmonton 2088 
feet, and at the base of the Mountain Chain 3000 feet above 
the sea. This rise of 2,300 feet is spread over a thousand 
miles, but Captain Palliser marked three distinct steppes in this 
great plain. The first springs from the southern shore of the Lake 
of the Woods, and, trending to the south-west, crosses the Red 
River well south of the boundary line ; thence it runs irregularly, 
in a north-westerly direction, by the Riding Mountains towards 



MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 1 25 

• 

Swan River, and thence to the Saskatchewan — where the north 
and south branches unite. The average altitude of the easterly- 
steppe is from 800 to 900 feet above the sea level. The second 
or middle steppe, on which we now are, extends west to the elbow 
of the South Saskatchewan, and thence northwards to the Eagle 
Hills, west of Fort Carlton. Its mean altitude is 1600 feet. 
The third prairie steppe extends to the mountains. Each of 
these steppes, says Palliser, is marked by important changes in 
the composition of the soil, and consequently in che character 
of the vegetation. 

Our first " spell " to-day was fifteen, and our second, twenty 
miles, to "the Round Hill," over rolling or slightly broken prairie ; 
the loam was not so rich as usual and had a sandy subsoil. 
Ridges and hillocks of gravel intersected or broke the general 
level, so that, should the railway come in this direction, abundant 
material for ballasting can be promised. 

The prairie to-day had an upward slope till about one o'clock, 
when it terminated in a range of grassy round hills. For the 
next hour's travelling the road wound through these ; a suc- 
cession of knolls enclosing cup-like basins, which in the heart of 
the range contained water, either fresh or saline. Wood also 
began to re-appear ; and, when we halted for dinner, at the height 
of the range, the beauty that wood, water, and bold hill-sides 
give were blended in one spot. We were certainly three or four 
hundred feet above the prairie ; the scenery round us was bolder 
than is to be found in any part of Ontario, and resembled that 
of the Pentlands, near Edinburgh. It is well to mention this, 
because of the exaggerated ideas that some people have when a 
country is spoken of. The hill at the foot of which we camped 
rose abruptly from the rest, like the site of an ancient fortalice. 
Horetski described it as a New Zealand pah ; one hill, like a wall, 
enclosing another in its centre, and a deep precipitous valley, 
that would have served admirably as a moat, filled with thick 



126 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

• 

wood and underbrush, between the two. Climbing to the 
summit of the central hill, we found ourselves in the middle of a 
circle, thirty to forty miles in diameter, enclosing about a 
thousand square miles of beautiful country. North and east it 
was undulating, studded with aspen groves and shining with 
lakes. To the south and west was a level prairie, with a sky line 
of hills to the south-west. To the north-west — our direction — a 
prairie fire, kindled probably by embers that had been left 
carelessly behind at a camp, partly hid the view. Masses of 
fiery smoke rose from the burning grass and willows, and if there 
had been a strong wind, or the grass less green and damp, the 
beauty of much of the fair scene we were gazing on would 
soon have vanished, and a vast blackened surface alone been 
left. 

It was nearly 4 P.M. before we left " the Round Hill :" and 
then we passed between the remaining hills of the range, and 
gradually descended to the more level prairie beyond, through a 
beautiful, boldly irregular country, with more open expanses 
than the Touchwood Hills showed, and more beautiful pools, 
though the wood was not so artistically grouped. Passing near the 
fire, which was blazing fiercely along a line of a quarter of a mile, 
we saw that it had commenced from a camping ground near the 
roadside. Heavy clouds were gathering that would soon extin- 
guish the flames. As there was the appearance of a terrific thunder 
storm, we hurried to a sheltered spot seven or eight miles from 
Round Hill, and camped before sunset, just as heavy drops 
commenced to fall. The speed with which our arrangements for 
the night were made astonished ourselves. Every one did what 
he could ; and in five minutes the horses were unharnessed, the 
tents pitched, the saddles and all perishable articles covered with 
waterproofs ; but, while exchanging congratulations, the dense 
black clouds drove on to the south, and, though the sky was 
a-flame with lightning, the rain scarcely touched us. 



MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 12 J 

August 15th. — Early in the morning rain pattered on our 
tents, but before day-light it had all passed off, and we started 
comfortably at our usual hour, a little after sunrise. Our aim 
was to reach the south branch of the Saskatchewan, forty-six 
miles away, before night ; the distance was divided into three 
1 spells ' of thirteen, seventeen, and sixteen miles. 

The scenery in the morning's ride was a continuation of that 
of last night ; through a lovely country, well wooded, abounding 
in lakelets, swelling into softly-rounded knolls, and occasionally 
opening out into a wide and fair landscape. The soil was of the 
richest loam and the vegetation correspondingly luxuriant , the 
flora the same, and almost at the same stage, as that we had first 
seen on the prairie, a fortnight before, near Red River ; — the 
roses just going out of bloom; the yellow marigolds and golden- 
rods, the lilac bergamot, the white tansey, blue-bells and hare- 
bells, and asters, of many colours and sizes, in all their splendour. 
We were quite beyond the high and dry region ; and again in a 
country that could easily be converted into an earthly paradise. 

We met or passed a great many teams and " brigades " to-day ; 
traders going west, and half-breeds returning east with carts well- 
laden with buffalo skins and dried meat. A number of Red River 
people club together in the spring, and go west to hunt the 
buffalo. Their united caravan is popularly called " a brigade," 
and very picturesque is its appearance on the road or round the 
camp-fire. The old men, the women and little children are all 
engaged on the expedition, and all help. The men ride and the 
women drive the carts. The children make the fires and do 
1 chores • for the women. The men shoot buffalo ; the women 
dry the meat and make it into pemmican. 

Our breakfast place was a neck of land between two lakes, 
one of them sweet, the other bitter. The elevation of the two 
seemed to be the same, but, on a closer look, the fresh lake was 
seen to be the higher 01 the two, so that when full it would 



128 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

overflow into the other. This was invariably the case, as far as 
we saw, when two or more of such lakes were near each other. 
The salt lakes had no outlet, the natural drainage passing off 
only by absorption and evaporation. 

The country between this first halt and the Saskatchewan 
consisted of three successive basins ; each bounded by a low 
ridge, less or more broken. Everywhere the ground was uneven, 
not so well suited as the level for steam agricultural implements, 
but the very country for stock-raising or dairy farms. The road 
was bad, and no wonder, according to the axiom that good soil 
makes bad roads. The ruts were deep in black loam, and 
rough with willow roots. Even when the wheels sank to the 
axles, they never brought up any clay ; moist, dripping, black 
muck, that would gladden the eyes of a farmer, was all that they 
found. 

Soon after dinner, we came to the last ridge, and before us 
spread out a magnificent panorama. Fifteen miles farther west 
rolled the South Saskatchewan. We could not see the river, but 
the blue plateau that formed our sky line was on the other side 
of it. And those fifteen miles at our feet, stretching to an inde- 
finite horizon on the south, and bounded five miles away to the 
north by Minitchenass or 'the lumping hill of the woods/ showed 
every variety of rolling plain, gentle upland, wooded knoll, and 
gleaming lake. Where hundreds of homesteads shall yet be, 
there is not one. Perhaps it is not to be regretted that there is 
so much good land in the world still unoccupied. The intense 
saltness of many of the lakes was to us the only doubtful feature 
in the landscape. One at our feet several miles long had a 
shore of brightest red, sure sign of how it would taste. All at 
the foot of the ridge with one exception are saline ; after going 
on a few miles and mounting a slope, they are fresh. 

The sun set when we were still five miles from the river. 
Another axle had broken and heavy clouds threatened instant 



MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 120, 

rain. Some advised halting ; but the desire to see the 
Saskatchewan was too strong to be resisted, and we pushed 
on at a rattling rate over the rutty and uneven road. Never were 
buckboards tested more severely, and no carts but those of Red 
River could have stood for ten minutes the bumps from hillock to 
hillock, over boulders, roots, and holes, at a break-neck rate. The 
last mile was down hill. The Doctor and the Chief dashed on at 
a gallop, and only drew rein when, right beneath, they saw the 
shining waters of the river. The rest of us were scarcely a 
minute behind, and three rousing cheers sent back the news to 
the carts. In twelve working days, we had travelled five hundred 
and six miles, doing on this last forty-six ; and the horses 
looked as fresh as at the beginning of the journey ; a fact that 
establishes the nutritious properties of the grasses that were their 
only food on the way, as well as the strength and the hardihood of 
the breed. 

The first thing the Chief saw to, after pitching the tents, was 
the preparation of a kettle of whiskey-toddy, of which all who 
were not teetotallers received an equal share. The allowance 
was not excessive after nearly a fortnight's work ; about 
three half-pints to thirteen men, six of them old voyageurs ; 
but they had been so abstemious on the road that it was quite 
enough, and great was the hilarity with which each one drank 
his mug-full, pledging the Queen, sweethearts and wives, the 
Dominion, and the Chief. It shakes a company together to 
share something in common occasionally ; and by this time we 
felt a personal interest in every member of the party, and 
looked forward with regret to the farewells that would be 
exchanged to-morrow. 

While at supper rain began to fall, and it continued with 
intermissions all night, but we slept soundly in our tents, — caring 
nothing, for were we not faring on in good style ? A month 

from Toronto and we were on the Saskatchewan. 
I 



130 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

Augst 1 6th. — The morning was grey and chilly, and there 
was some delay in getting the scow, that is now kept on the 
river by the Hudson's Bay Company, up from a point where it 
had been left, so that we did not move from camp till 8 o'clock. 
This delay gave the Botanist an hour or two to hunt for new 
species, which he did with all diligence, and the rest of us had 
time for a swim or a ramble up and down the river. Our Botanist 
had been slightly cast down of late by finding few new varieties. 
The flora of the five hundred and thirty miles between the 
eastern verge of the prairie at Oak Point, and the Saskatchewan, 
is wonderfully uniform. The characteristic flowers and grasses 
are everywhere the same. We expect, however, to meet with 
many strange varieties after crossing the two Saskatchewans. 

At this point of the river, where the scow is usually kept and 
where a regular ferry is to be established next year, crossing is 
an easy matter. When there was no scow, every party that 
came along had to make a raft for their baggage, and a whole 
day was lost. Our buckboards, carts, and Mr. McDougal's 
waggons made two scow-loads ; and the horses swam across. 
Some were very reluctant to go into the water, but they were 
forced on by the men, who waded after them — shouting and 
throwing stones, — to the very brink of the channel. Once in 
there, they had to swim. Some, — ignorant of "how to do it" — 
smuggled violently against the full force of the current or to get 
back, when of course they were stoned in again. Others went 
quietly and cunningly with the current and got across at the 
very point the scow made. The river for a few minutes looked 
alive with horses' heads, for that was all that was seen of them 
from the shore. As the water was lower and the force of the 
stream less than usual, all got across with comparative ease. 
The river at this point is from two hundred to two hundred and 
fifty yards wide. A hand-level showed the west bank to be 
about a hundred and seventy feet high, and the east somewhat 




SI 



MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 131 

higher. Groves of aspens, balsams, poplars, and small white 
birch are on both banks. The valley is about a mile wide, 
narrower therefore than the valley of the Assiniboine or the 
Qu'Appelle, though the Saskatchewan is larger than the two 
put together. The water now is of a milky grey colour, but 
very sweet to the taste, especially to those who had not drunk 
of ' living water ' for some days. A month hence it will be clear 
as crystal. In the spring it is discoloured by the turbid torrents 
along its banks, composed of the melting snows and an admixture 
of soil and sand ; and this colour is continued through the 
summer, by the melted snow and ice and the debris borne along 
with them from the Rocky Mountains. In August it begins to 
get clear, and remains so till frozen, which usually happens 
about the end of November. 

Near the ferry an extensive reserve of land has been secured 
for a French half-breed settlement. A number of families have 
already come up from Fort Garry. We did not see them as the 
buffalo-magnet had drawn them away to the plains. The 
scantling for a house was on the ground near our camp. 

After crossing, most of us drove rapidly to Fort Carlton, — 
eighteen miles distant, on the North Saskatchewan, — being 
anxious to see a house, store, and civilized ways and people again. 
Mr. Clark, the agent, received us with customary Hudson's Bay 
hospitality. The eighteen miles between the two rivers is a 
plateau, not more at its highest than three hundred feet above 
either stream. The soil looked rather light and sandy, but 
sufficiently rich for .profitable farming. There is capital duck- 
shooting on lakes near the road. From the ancient bank of the 
river, above the Fort, is a good view of the course of the north 
stream. It is a noble river, rather broader, with higher banks 
and a wider valley, than the south branch. The usual square of 
four or five wooden buildings, surrounded by a high plank fence, 
constitutes " the Fort, " and, having been intended for defence 



132 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

against Indians only, it is of little consequence that it is 
built on the low ground, so immediately under the ancient bank 
of the river that you can look down into the inclosure, and 
almost throw a stone into it from a point on the bank. Fifty 
miles down stream is the Prince Albert Presbyterian Mission to 
the Crees, where there is also the nucleus of a thriving Scotch 
settlement. Fifty miles farther down, in the same north-easterly 
direction, the two Saskatchewans unite, and then pursue their 
way with a magnificent volume of water — broken only by one 
rapid of any consequence — to Lake Winnipeg. 

We dined with Mr. Clark on pemmican, a strong but savoury 
dish, not at all like ' the dried chips and tallow ' some Syba- 
rites have called it. There is pemmican and pemmican 
however, and we were warned that what is made for ordinary 
fare needs all the sauce that hunger supplies to make it 
palatable. 

A few hours before our arrival, Mr. Clark had received intel- 
ligence from Edmonton, that Yankee free-traders from Belly 
River had entered the country, and were selling rum to the 
Indians in exchange for their horses. The worst consequences 
were feared, as when the Indians have no horses they cannot 
hunt. When they cannot hunt, they are not ashamed to steal, 
and stealing leads to wars. The Crees and Blackfeet had been 
at peace for the last two or three years, but, if the peace was 
once broken, the old thirst for scalps would revive and the 
country be rendered insecure. Mr. Clark spoke bitterly of the 
helplessness of the authorities, in consequence of having had no 
force from the outset to back up the proclamations that had 
been issued. Both traders and Indians were learning the 
dangerous lesson that the Queen's orders could be disregarded 
with impunity ; and it would cost more before the lesson was 
unlearned, than would have taught the opposite at the beginning 
of the new regime. We comforted our good host with the 



MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 1 33 

assurance that the Adjutant-General was coming up with thirty 
men, to repress all disorders and to see what was necessary to 
be done for the future peace of the country. 

Making all allowances for the fears of those who see no pro- 
tection for life or property within five hundred or a thousand 
miles of them, and for the exaggerated size to which rumours 
swell in a country of such magnificent distances, where there 
are no newspapers and no means of communication except 
' expresses,' it is clear that if the government wishes to avoid 
worrying, expensive, murderous difficulties with the Indians, 
' something must be done.' There must be law and order all 
over our North-west from the first. Three or four companies of 
fifty men each, like those now in Manitoba, would be sufficient 
for the purpose, if judiciously stationed. Ten times the number 
may be required if there is long delay. The country cannot 
afford repetitions of the Manitoba rebellion, on account of the 
neglect of either half-breeds or Indians. The Crees are anxious 
for a treaty. The Blackfeet should be dealt with firmly and 
generously ; treaties made with both on the basis of those 
agreed upon in the east ; a few simple laws for the protection of 
life and property explained to them, and their observance 
enforced ; small annuities allowed ; the spirit-traffic prohibited, 
and schools and missionaries encouraged. 

On asking Mr. Clark why there was no farm at Carlton, he 
explained that the neighbourhood of a fort was the worst possible 
place for farm or garden ; that the Indians who come about a 
fort from all quarters, to trade and to see what they can get, 
would, without the slightest intention of stealing, use the fences 
for firewood, dig up the potatoes and turnips, and let their 
horses get into the grain-fields. He had therefore established a 
farm at the Prince Albert Mission, fifty miles down the river. 
With regard to crops, barley and potatoes were always sure, 
wheat generally a success, though threatened by frosts or early 



134 



OCEAN TO OCEAN. 



drought, and never a total failure. This year, he expected two 
thousand bushels of wheat from a sowing of a hundred. The 
land at Carlton, and everywhere round, is the same as at Prince 
Albert. Its only fault is that it is rather too rich. 

After dinner, three or four hours were allowed for writing 
letters home, and making arrangements for the journey farther 
west. We got some fresh horses and provisions from Mr. Clark ; 
said good-bye to Emilien, Marchand, Willie, Frederick, and 
Jerome ; and taking two of our old crew, Terry and Maxime, 
along with two half-breeds and a hunch-backed Indian from 
Carlton, crossed the North Saskatchewan before sunset. In 
addition to Mr. McDougal, two Hudson's Bay officers joined 
us — one of whom, Mr. Macaulay, had been long stationed at 
Jasper House and Edmonton, and the other, Mr. King, far north 
on the McKenzie River. The scow took everything across in 
two loads, and the horses swam the river ; but it was after dark 
before the tents were pitched on the top of the hill, and nearly 
midnight when we got to bed. 




CHAPTER VI. 

Along the North Saskatchewan to Edmonton. 

The Thickwood Hills. — The soil. — Slough of despond. — Bears Paddling Lake. — Indian 
Missions-results.— Pemmican.— Jack-fish Lake.— The Crees and Blackfeet.— Change 
in vegetation.— Resemblance to Ontario.— The Red-deer Hills.— Rich uplands and 
Valleys.— Fort Pitt.— The Horse Guard.— Fresh Buffalo meat.— Partially wooded 
country. — Cree guests. — Shaganappi. — Glorious view. — Our Longitude. — The 
Isothermal lines. — Scalping raids.— The flora.— Victoria Mission. — Indian school. — 
Crops raised-— A lady visitor.— Timber.— Horse Hill.— Edmonton.— Coal.— Wheat and 
othercrops— Gold-washing.— Climate.— Soil.— Indian Races.— Water.— Fuel.— Frosts. 

August 17th. — The distance from Fort Garry to Edmonton 
is nine hundred miles, and is usually regarded as consisting of 
three portions ; two hundred and fifteen miles to Fort Ellice on 
# the Assiniboine ; three hundred and nine more to Fort Carlton ; 
and about three hundred and eighty up the North Saskatchewan 
to Edmonton. On this third part of the journey we were now 
entering. 

It rained this morning, but we rose early, as usual, and pre- 
pared to start. There was a good deal of confusion and delay, 
however, as Horetsky, who had employed the new men and made 
the arrangements, had remained over night at the fort. The new 
horses could not be found for some time : and, with one thing and 
another, it was seven o'clock before we got off on this stage of 
our journey. The sky soon cleared and the day turned out as 
suuny and breezy as any of its predecessors. 

The road follows the upward course of the Saskatchewan, but 
as the river soon makes an almost semi-circular sweep, first 
south and parallel te the South Saskatchewan, then northerly 
as far as Fort Pitt, the road strikes across the chord of the arc, 
over a broken and hilly country called the " Thickwood Hills." 
Lakes are always in sight, — one of them very large and very salt 
— and extensive views of fine pasture lands are had from every 
(135) 



136 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

elevation. The soil and its productions, greatly to the disap- 
pointment of our Botanist, resembled what we had everywhere 
seen for the last fortnight. The soil in some places was equally 
rich and deep ; but generally not quite as good. Everything 
indicated a cool and moist climate. There were few of the prairie 
flowers, but a great variety of grasses, of wild peas and beans 
all green, succulent herbage ; a country better adapted for stock- 
raising than for wheat. The road was rough with roots, stones, 
and occasionally deep ruts, and so hilly that the jog-trot had 
often to be exchanged for a walk. Mr. Clark's horses, with the 
exception of a span attached to a large waggon of his own that 
he had kindly lent us, turned out to be miserable beasts ; stiff- 
jointed or sore-backed, and obstinately lifeless ; so that we 
would have fared badly, had it not been for the six government 
horses brought on from Fort Ellice. The two Carlton half-breeds; 
employed to drive the carts or horses, were old and stupid, 
incurable smokers and talkers. The one called Legrace was 
dried up as a mummy ; the other " fat and greasy," popularly 
known among us as " Haroosh." He owed the name to Terry, 
who, hearing him drive his red horse with frequent howls of 
" Ho Rouge ! Ho Rouge ! " took for granted that this was the 
u Haroosh " familiar to himself in early days, and the proper 
north-west cry to lazy horses. Terry, accordingly, never whacked 
his unfortunate white nag without yelling " Haroosh !" The only 
acquisition to the party from Carlton, was the young hunch- 
backed Indian called Keasis or the "little bird." 

Our breakfast-place was fifteen miles from camp, beside a 
marsh or pool on the road, twenty feet wide, and so deep that 
the water came into the buck-boards and up to the axles of the 
carts. It is well enough named the " Slough of Despond." 
Often have carts stuck, and whole brigades come to grief in it. 
Why the H. B. Company has never bridged it is a puzzle, except 
on the principle that no company cares to do any work that 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 137 

will be a public benefit to others as well as to itself, for it 
has lost enough by it to build ten bridges. Where there is any- 
considerable traffic, nothing is so expensive as a slough, a hole, 
or any serious obstruction on the road. 

We took dinner fifteen miles further on, beside a pretty little 
running stream, and camped before sunset, after making only 
eight miles more, beside " The Bears Paddling Lake," a good 
place to stay over Sunday, as there is abundance of wood, water,, 
and pasture. The lake is very shallow but has a firm sandy 
bottom, and the Indians have often seen bears about its shores, 
enjoying themselves in the water. Hence its name, a translation 
of which is sufficient for us. 

Every one from the Saskatchewan that we previously met, 
had spoken so enthusiastically of this river and of the great 
country it waters, that we were somewhat disappointed with 
what we had seen to-day. True, we had passed over only a speck 
comparatively, and that so elevated that much could not be 
looked for from it. The soil appeared good, and the grasses were 
so thick that they almost formed a sward ; but the larger wood 
had been burnt, and willow bushes, scattered all round, indicated 
an indifferent sub-soil. Besides, we had not got rid of the salt 
lakes. Mr. McDougal, however, ridiculed our doubts : we had 
only to go out of our road a little, to find a rich and beautiful 
country, extending north to the line of continuous forest, and 
to-morrow and every successive day, as we journeyed west, would 
show pretty much the same. 

Faith in the future of the Saskatchewan and its " fertile belt " 
is strong in the mind of almost every man who has lived on it, 
and it is impossible to see even the little of the two great 
branches of the river that we saw, without being convinced that 
they are natural highways along which many steamers will soon 
be plying, carrying to market the rich produce of the plains that 
extend to the east, west, and north from them. When the tents 



138 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

were pitched Souzie went down to the lake and shot four or five 
ducks, as a contribution to our Sunday dinner. The night was 
cool, as we had expected at the elevation ; but there was no 
frost. 

August 1 8th. — Took a much-needed long sleep, as usual on 
Sunday mornings ; breakfasted at nine o'clock and had service 
at eleven, Mr. McDougal assisting. We are all much pleased 
with Mr. McDougal, and think ourselves fortunate in having 
fallen in with him. In his conversation and by his actions he 
shows himself thoroughly acquainted with the country, a man of 
ready resources and an obliging fellow traveller. 

Widely different opinions have been expressed, about the value 
of missionary work among the Indians, by the half dozen persons 
we have hitherto met who profess to be less or more acquainted 
with the subject. One gentleman's information was very decided : 
— " The Protestant Missionaries had made no converts ; the 
Roman Catholic Missionaries had made some, and they were 
the greatest scoundrels unhung." Another was qually emphatic 
on the other side ; and, as positive evidence is worth infinitely 
more than negative, we were more disposed to listen to him. 
One witness was doubtful, thinking that something could be said 
on both sides, and he was, therefore, subjected to a little cross- 
examination : — " Many of the Indians are now professing 
Christians ; but, no doubt, some of them are great hypocrites." 
Asked if there was not a share of hypocrisy in all of us, and if 
such a charge was not made against Christians everywhere. 
Admitted that it was so. Pressed on the point, whether the old 
child-like frankness on the part of the Indian along with a vast 
fund of reserve on the part of the trader, made the commercial 
transactions equally fair to both parties ; admitted that it did 
not, and that thus the charge of hypocrisy might be retorted in 
the wigwam on the trader, or explained in the store on the part 
of the Indian. Asked if he could name any positive improve- 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 1 39 

ment in morality, that had resulted from the Missionaries' labours. 
"Yes; Christianized Crees would not steal your horses, — at least 
not openly — when you were passing through their country." 
Well, you could not say much more for Christianized English- 
men or Yankees, if so much. Could he mention any other 
improvement ? " Yes ; they had all been polygamists to as great 
an extent as they could afford, (a new wife being bought for a 
horse or a blanket) and they used to exchange wives to suit 
each others' convenience ; but such practices among several 
tribes had passed away, or were considered disreputable." Urged, 
to remember what they were when he first went among them 
so as to say fairly if there was any other gain. " Yes ; away to 
the north the Dogribs and other tribes on the McKenzie, had a 
practice of strangling or smothering all their infant daughters 
after the first ; even the mother would stuff a handful of grass 
into the mouth of the poor little thing and choke it ; now the 
practice was unknown." A decided gain for the daughters. 
Any more. " Yes ; some of them did keep the Lord's Day 
after a fashion, treated their women rather better, were more > 
comfortable, a little cleaner, sent their children to school for a 
while, and — well, there had been improvement, but after all, if, 
you only knew how superstitious they still are, how dirty, vicious, 
miserable, you would not consider them much better than 
pagans." 

The style of argument seemed ungenerous. Here were men, 
self-exiled, toiling all their lives without prospect of earthly 
promotion or reward, from the Blackfeet on the Bow River 
to the Loocieux on the Yucan, from Winnipeg to where the 
McKenzie empties into the Arctic sea; among the Indians of the 
lakes and the plains, and the still more degraded Indians of the 
woods ; living, many of them, in frozen wildernesses, where the 
year is made up of a six weeks' summer of West India heat ; 
six or seven weeks more of warm days and cold nights ; and 



140 OCEAN TO OCEAN, 

nine months of stern and dreary winter ; and when they see some 
results of their labour, some small improvements struggling to 
show themselves in spite of all the dismal surroundings, they find 
that the necessarily slow process has made men forget the raw 
material they had to begin upon ; they are sneered at as making 
hypocrites, or are pointed only to what remains to be done, 
because their converts are not equal to the descendants of fifty 
generations of Christian forefathers. It is so easy to forget what 
once was, or to kick away the ladder by which we ourselves have 
risen. Changes take place so imperceptibly that even those 
living among them do not notice there has been change, and 
they assume that nothing has been done, when a great work is 
going on around them. Missionaries on the plains say, now that 
there has been peace for the last two or three years, they can 
call to mind, only with an effort, the once familiar scenes of 
bloodshed, and the universal craving for scalps. 

The uniform policy of the Hudson's Bay Company was to 
encourage Missionary effort among the Indians. Their charter 
bound them to this, and, especially since 1820, they did so to a 
considerable extent. Sir George Simpson always offered the 
protection of the Company to Missionaries, on condition that 
they attended to their own business and did nothing prejudicial 
to the interests of the Company. When a Missionary was 
stationed near a Hudson's Bay Fort, he had the position also of 
Chaplain to the Fort, free passage in and out of the country by 
the Company's boats, and £50 a year. For some time the 
Anglican and the Roman Catholic were almost the only churches 
that entered on the work, perhaps because the Company was 
most ready to invite and to assist these. During the last quarter 
of a century the Wesleyans also have worked in this field with 
their usual energy. They have now nine Missionaries in it, and 
it is much to the credit of the two Protestant Churches, that they 
do not interfere with the stations of one another. The Presby- 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 141 

terians have only one mission, that at Prince Albert, and, though 
in a prosperous state, its work is in a great measure confined to 
a congregation of half-breed and white settlers. 

A practical vindication bo f h of the general dealings of the 
Company with the Indians and of missionary work among them 
is the fact that, the survey of the Canada Pacific Railway, from 
the Upper Ottawa to the Pacific coast, has in no case been 
interfered with. The engineers and others have been welcomed ; 
and, very often, the Indians have proved extremely serviceable. 
The contrast with the state of things on the other side of the 
boundary line, — where surveys have been summarily stopped, 
engineers killed, and where every Indian scalp is estimated to 
have cost the country $100,000, — is marked indeed. 

Of course the missionary work has another and altogether 
higher aspect, from which it is only fair to look at it also. We 
must judge it from its own as well as from the world's standpoint. 
Christian men and women give their means, their labours, and 
their lives to the heathen, not for the social, political, or economi- 
cal results, though they believe that such follow on their success, 
but for Christ's sake, because the heathen are their brethren, 
dear to them because dear to their Lord. It is not fair, therefore, 
to leave the decision as to the value of their labours wholly to 
men of the world, who judge only from the lower point of view, 
—whose immediate interests may be injured, or on whose pas- 
,ions a bridle may be put by " the impertinent intermeddling " 
of Missionaries, or who may even be bitterly opposed to true 
Christianity — for it is not extravagant to suppose that there 
have been such men. To preach the Gospel of the wonderful 
love of God to a few degraded Indians, may seem a small thing 
in the eyes of tourist or^ trader, in comparison with the gospel 
of plenty of tobacco for peltries. Far otherwise is it in the eyes 
of the Missionary and his Master; far otherwise when weighed in 
the balances of eternity. 



142 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

August 19th. — Rose at 3 A.M., thanks to the Sunday rest, and 
got away from camp before sunrise. 

Our first 'spell' was thirteen miles, over a rich undulating 
country, little wooded, but, judging from the strong green grasses 
and vetches, well suited either for stock-raising or cereals. We 
breakfasted in a lovely hollow, watered by springs of delicious 
water, the banks lined with balsam poplars from one to two feet 
in diameter. The road here is about forty miles from the river 
on account of the bend, to the south, that the latter makes. The 
Thickwood Hills are not more than two hundred feet high. 

Terry gave us pemmican for breakfast, and, from this date, 
pemmican was the staple of each meal. Though none of us 
cared for it raw at first, we all liked it hot. Cooked for a few 
minutes in a frying pan with a little water and flour, and a dust 
of pepper and salt, onions added if you have any, it is called 
11 richaud " and a capital dish it is, looking like Rodney, and 
tasting not very differently from well roasted beef. Pemmican 
and sun-dried, thin, flitches of buffalo-meat are the great food- 
staples of the plains, so much so that when you hear people 
speak of 'provisions' you may be sure that they simply mean 
buffalo-meat, either dried or as pemmican. 

The second ' spell ' was twenty miles over round or sloping 
hills, enclosing lakes and affording good pasturage, though the 
most of the land was sandy or gravely and not up to the 
average. The country resembled the Cheviots and the south of 
Scotland — two or three places reminding us much of Drum- 
lanrig. The road followed the high lands where the streamlets 
or ■ creeks ' that flow into the Saskatchewan, take their rise. We 
crossed one 01 these three times, and then halted beside it for 
dinner. In the afternoon we followed along its course, through a 
succession of very pretty lakes, that are almost covered with wild 
fowl, till it issued from the largest of these " Jack Fish Lake." 
We should have crossed it there, but the water was too high, and 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 1 43; 

we had to follow down its left bank to a ford three miles to the 
south. When within quarter of a mile of the ford, — the big 
waggon and buck-boards going before, the carts following at 
some distance, and the horses driven behind them, — the hump- 
backed Indian galloped to the front, and pointed back. There 
was Souzie crossing the river in his light waggon, and the carts 
and the horses following lead. They floundered across pretty- 
well, except the cart of " Haroosh," which stuck in the mud. 
Though angry at the " cheek " of the thing, it was thought best 
to follow, and master Souzie being recalled, and " rowed up " 
for his impudence, most of the articles that a wetting would 
damage, were transferred from the buckboards to his waggon and 
sent safely across. The big waggon, with the Chief and the 
Doctor mounted on the highest pinnacle, followed ; but, when 
near the other side, its iron wheels sank in the black muddy 
bottom, and the horses while struggling to extricate them, broke 
the whipple-tree and parts of the harness, leaving the waggon 
and contents in the middle of the stream. Maxime and "the 
little bird" rushed to the rescue and untackled the horses. The 
Chief and the Doctor, stripping from feet to waist jumped 
down into the water, and putting their shoulders to the wheels 
while the other two pulled, amid cheers from the rest of us- 
on the other side, and countless bites from the mosquitoes,, 
shoved the big thing to the bank. The buckboards fol- 
lowed, and then " Greasy," who had been left all the time in 
the middle of the stream, cudgelling his horse, and yelling " Ho 
Rouge ! Ho Rouge !" supplicated help, as his arm and throat 
had quite given out. He was told to help himself, and to our 
great satisfaction, the old fellow had to jump down into the 
water and shove his cart out. All got safely across, nothing- 
had been hurt, only Souzie looked woebegone for the night, and 
Greasy continued sulky for two days. We camped at once on 
the bank, for it was after sunset, though the mosquitoes, that 



144 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

always haunt woods and streams, tormented our horses so much 
that the poor brutes could not eat, but crowded round the smoke 
of our fires, making the place look even more like a gipsy 
encampment than usual. 

The Jackfish-lake River runs, through a beautiful park-like 
country from this point, into the Saskatchewan, fifteen miles to 
the south. It would be a good location for a missionary or 
general settlement, for the lakes above are filled with jackfish or 
pike, and with white fish, — the finest fresh water fish, perhaps, in 
the world. There is also good water power, as the stream descends 
about a hundred and fifty feet in the course of the next fifteen 
miles, and the land is slightly rolling and of excellent quality. 
It is the favourite ground of a large mixed band of Crees and 
Salteaux, whom we did not see as they were all away hunting 
buffalo. On a little hill, near the stream, a great annual "pow- 
wow," is held in the spring, by the heathen Crees and 
Salteaux who come from long distances to have a high time. 
Their u medicine men " who have still much influence among 
them, take the lead and hold a " revival meeting." All the old 
incantations and wild dances are practised, and as the excite- 
ment gets up, they abandon themselves to the foulest licen- 
tiousness. 

We had driven forty-eight miles to-day, the longest journey 
yet made. Excepl the first and last part, the land was not of 
the best quality. 

August 20th. — Instead of following up the right bank of the 
stream to the main road near Jack-fish Lake, we struck a new 
trail direct for Tortoise River, twenty-five miles distant. On the 
way we saw a fine duck and two or three antelopes, but they were 
too far off for a shot. In the spring, several varieties of deer 
come in great numbers to this part of the country, but at this 
season, most 01" them are away with their young on the treeless 
prairies to the south. Halted on the road for breakfast ; but, 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. I45 

after having unharnessed the horses, found, to our disgust, that 
the water was salt. A breakfast of dry bread and dry pemmican 
was hurriedly made ; and we found that, on the plains, any meal 
without tea, is as poor an affair as bacon and beans without the 
bacon. 

At Tortoise River had a most reviving swim and a long halt. 
Beyond it is Horse Hill, so called from a fight between the Crees 
and Blackfeet, forty years ago. The Crees were encamped near 
a thicket at the foot of the hill, and a party of Blackfeet, that 
had made a successful raid far from their own borders, discovered 
them ind charged. But the Crees were prepared, and, a still 
larger body of them on the slope of the hill hidden by a 
ravine, swept round and drove their enemies into it ; and 
though many of the Blackfeet escaped, all their spoil was 
retaken, and forty horses were killed, an extraordinary number, 
for the aim is always to capture the horses, — horses, and 
buffalo being the all-in-all to the Indians of the plains. In their 
wars the Blackfeet often suffered from similar haste and over- 
boldness. Not long ago, a party a hundred strong, that was out 
raiding in the winter time, discovered a Cree camp among the 
hills, and rushed on it ; but as they entered the pass, a second 
and a third camp appeared on each side of the pass. Their only 
hope was escape, and they dashed straight on, only to find 
that they had rushed into a deep hollow, the opposite rim of 
which was topped high with snow-banks that curled over in 
folds, so that there was no possibility of mounting it. The Crees 
closed round with yells of triumph, and for once they had their 
will on their enemies. It was not a fight but a massacre. 
Seventy were killed in a few minutes, and then the Crees in a 
fit of generosity, or because they were glutted with blood, 
opened out and let the rest go. 

Not that the Blackfeet disdain to exercise strategy. Cunning 
is natural to every Indian, in war and peace, in hunting and 
J 



I46 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

trading. We were told of a successful ambuscade of theirs at 
" the Round Hill," so like a New Zealand pah, on the other side 
of the Saskatchewan. A large body of Crees had camped by 
one of the lakes near the open. Towards evening they espied a 
buffalo grazing on the top of the inner hill. He fed so quietly, 
that they were a little suspicious at first, but soon others 
emerged from the coppice in the dip between the two hills. 
Hungry Crees could be suspicious no longer. They drew near 
quietly, and were all ready to " run " the buffalo, when every 
bush opened fire and a score of them dropped. The buffalo 
became Blackfeet and turning the tables ' ran ' the Crees to 
some purpose. 

The characteristic of the Blackfeet braves, however, is daring. 
Many a stirring tale of headlong valour they tell round their 
camp fires, as, long ago in moated castles, bards sang the deeds 
of knights-errant, and fired the blood of the rising generation. 
Such a story we heard of a Chief called " the Swan," once the 
bravest of the brave, but now tho' in the prime of life, dying of 
consumption. Dressing himself one day in' all his bravery, he 
mounted his fleet horse and rode straight for the Cree camp. A 
hundred warriors were scattered about the tents, and in the 
centre of the encampment two noted braves sat gambling. 
Right up to them " the Swan " rode, scarcely challenged, as he 
was alone, clapped his musket to the head of one and blew his 
brains out. In an instant the camp was up ; dozens of strong 
arms caught at the reckless foe, dozens of shots were fired, while 
others rushed for their horses. But he knew his horse, and, 
dashing through the encampment like a bolt, made good his 
escape, though chased by every man that could mount 

Many a story of this kind we heard from poor old mummy 
Legrace, or from others of our party, who boasted for himself in 
a dignified way that in his time he had killed two Blackfeet, but 
how much is truth and how much fiction, deponent saith not 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 1 47 

This afternoon we drove sixteen miles, from Tortoise River to 
English River, another stream running south into the Saskatche- 
wan, and so called from the fact that an Englishman had been 
drowned while crossing it in the spring time, when very insigni- 
ficant ' Creeks ' are dangerous. The soil all the way was sandy 
and mossy, except in patches or near either of the rivers where 
it was excellent ; the country was undulating and suited for sheep 
grazing. At one point, the road ran within two or three miles 
of the Saskatchewan, and a prominent hill on the other side was 
recognized by Souzie. ' Ah ! ' said he to his master, ' I know 
now where I am ' ; and, on arriving at the camp, he went up to 
Frank and formally shook hands with him, to indicate that he 
welcomed him to his country. He had established confidential 
relations with Frank from the first, taught him Cree words, and 
told him long stories, explaining his meaning by expressive 
gesticulations of fingers, hands, shoulders, mouth, and eyes. 

A clump of tall pointed white spruce and branching poplar 
spruce, on the banks of English River, was the first variety from 
the universal aspen or occasional balsam poplar, that we had 
seen since leaving Fort Garry, with the exception of a few white 
birches on the banks of the Saskatchewan. The aspen, as far as 
seen by us, is certainly the characteristic tree, just as the buffalo 
is the characteristic animal of our North-west ; the other trees 
have in great measure been burnt out. Fortunately the aspen 
is good wood for carpenter work ; good also for fuel, being 
kindled easily and burning without sparks. 

In the course of the afternoon " the little bird " having gone 
in too extensively for pemmican became so sick that he gave 
out altogether ; this generally happens with the new men that 
are picked up at the forts along the route. They are often half- 
starved, except when employed, and then it takes them a week to 
go through the surfeiting and sick stages before shaking down into 
proper condition. Legrace and Haroosh were far too old hands 



148 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

to get sick, no matter what the quantity they ate. One of us 
took ' the little bird's ' work, and made him get into a buckboard 
where he lay prone, head wrapped up in his blanket, till the 
camping ground was reached. Then he stretched himself beside 
the fire, the picture of utter wretchedness. The Doctor prescribed 
castor oil, and Terry put the dose to his mouth. As " the little 
bird " took the first taste, he looked up and, noticing the comical 
look about Terry's countenance, thought that a practical joke was 
being played at his expense, and with a gleam of fire in his eyes 
spit it out on him. The Doctor had now to come up and with his 
most impressive Muskeekee ohnyou (chief medicine man) air, 
intimate that the dose must be taken. 'The little bird' submitted, 
drank it as if it were hemlock, and rolled himself up in his blanket 
to die. But in the morning he was all right again though weak ; 
and gratefully testified that castor oil was the most wonderful 
medicine in the world. 

August 2 1 st. — Our destination to-day was Fort Pitt on the 
Saskatchewan, but learning that a visit to it involved twelve or 
fifteen miles additional travelling, as the main road keeps well to 
the north of the river, it was decided that Horetzky, and Macaulay, 
one of the Hudson's Bay officers that joined our party at Carlton, 
should ride ahead to the Fort for supplies, and meet us if 
possible in the evening at " the guard." Every station of the 
Hudson's Bay Company has a " guard," or judiciously selected 
spot, well supplied with good water, wood, pasturage, and shelter, 
where the horses are kept. From this depot we expected to be 
furnibhed with fresh horses and men in place of those brought 
from Carlton. 

To-day's travel was through a hilly well-watered country. 
The first ' spell ' brought us to the base of the Red Deer Hill, 
close to a spring of cold clear water beside a grove. The soil 
was of excellent quality all the way, a deep loam. The grasses 
and flowers resembled those of Ontario and the Lower Provinces 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. I49 

rather than the prairie flora. Such common wild fruits as 
currants, gooseberries, choke-cherries, &c, were in abundance. 
We seemed to have taken leave of the prairie and its characteristic 
flowers since crossing the North Saskatchewan, but they were not 
far off to the north or south. The road from Carlton runs 
among the sandy hills, that skirt the course of the river, up to 
Fort Pitt. The nearer the river in this part the more sandy the 
soil, and the less adapted for cereals, because of droughts, and 
early frosts which are attributed to the heavy mists that cling 
about the river banks. 

After breakfast, the road ran through a still more broken 
country and along a more elevated plateau. The windings of 
the Red Deer and its little tributaries have cut out, in the course 
of ages, great valleys and enormous ' punch bowls/ resembling 
the heaviest parts of the south of Scotland, on the rich grassy 
sides of which thousands-of cattle or sheep ought to be grazing 
to make the resemblance complete. At a point where the 
plateau is about 400 feet above the level of the Saskatchewan, a 
round sugar-loaf hill rises abruptly from the road, nearly 200 feet, 
and is called the Frenchman's Knoll, because long ago a French- 
man had been killed here. We cantered or walked to the top, and 
had a far extending view of level, undulating, and hilly country. 
Most of the wood was small because of recent fires, and it was 
all aspen, except a few clumps of pines far away. The sky line 
beyond the Saskatchewan was an elevated range with distinct 
summits, several of which must have been as high as " the 
mountain " behind Montreal. The smallness and sameness of 
the wood gave monotony to the view, which was redeemed 
only by its vastness. 

Near this, the trail to Fort Pitt branched off. Keeping the 
main road for another mile, we halted for dinner, and then 
moved on, first descending the long winding slopes of a hill 
to the south, and then going west up a valley that must have 



150 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

been formerly the bed of a river, or more probably cut out 
by an overflow of the Saskatchewan. In the course of the 
afternoon, we crossed three clear streamlets running over soft 
black bottoms ; in spite of this abundance of good water the 
lakelets in the lowest hollows were saline. The soil everywhere 
was of the rich loam that had become so familiar to our eyes ; 
uplands and valleys were equally good. The grasses were thick 
and short, almost forming a sward ; still green and juicy though 
they had been exposed to all the summer's heat. In the marshes 
the grass was from four to six feet high, and of excellent quality 
for hay. 

After crossing the last 'creek,' a handsome young Indian 
came galloping towards us, to say that Horetzky and Macaulay 
were already at " the guard " ahead, with Mr. Sinclair the 
Hudson's Bay agent at Fort Pitt. This was good news, for the 
probabilities were that the location of the " guard " had been 
changed ; and, at all events, we had calculated on having to wait 
several hours for our two outriders. Getting to the " guard " before 
sunset, the tents were at once pitched. We had ridden more 
than 40 miles, and our avant-couriers about 52, besides attending 
to all our commissions at the Fort. 

This was the first " guard " we had seen. They are usually at a 
distance from the Forts, but it so happened that this one although 
ten miles from the Fort was by the roadside. We could not have 
seen a better specimen, for, on account of the grasses being so 
good, more horses are kept at Fort Pitt than at any other post on 
the Saskatchewan. There are 300 now, and they increase 
rapidly though the prairie wolves destroy many of the foals. 
All were in prime condition and some of them very handsome. 
Not one in ten of those horses had ever got a feed from man, 
summer or winter. They cropped all their own food ; and sleek 
and fat as they are now, they are equally so in midwinter : 
pawing off the dry snow they find the grasses abundant and sue- 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 151 

culent beneath. Better witnesses to the suitableness of this country 
for stock raising on an extensive scale, than those 300 horses, could 
not be desired. When weak or sickly, or returned from " a trip," 
knocked up with hard driving and cudgelling, for the half-breed 
looks upon cudgelling as an essential and inevitable part of 
driving, they may be taken into the barn at the Fort for a time 
and fed on hay, but not otherwise. At the " guard," only one 
Indian is in charge of the whole herd. The horses keep together 
and do not stray, so fond are they of one another. The chief 
difficulty in selecting some for your journey is, to get those you 
want away from the pack. There is a thick grove of aspens 
where they take shelter in tire coldest weather, and near it is the 
tent of the keeper. His chief work seems to be making little 
inclosures of green logs or sticks, and build fires of green wood 
inside to smoke off the mosquitoes. Round these fires the horses 
often stand in groups, enjoying the smoke that keeps their active 
tormentors at a little distance. In considering this fact of 
horses feeding in the open all winter, it is well to remember 
that Fort Pitt is between two and three hundred miles farther 
north than Fort Garry. 

After inspecting the horses, we were taken into the keeper's 
tent to see how he was housed. It was a roomy lodge, called ' a 
fourteen skin/ because constructed of so many buffalo hides 
stretched and sewed together ; the smallest lodges are made 
of five or six, and the largest of from twenty to twenty-five 'skins.' 
The fire is in the centre, and the family sleep round the side, 
each member having his or her appointed corner. The smoke 
of the fire dries the skins thoroughly, keeps out the mosquitoes, 
and gives the inmates sore eyes. We all pronounced it ' very 
comfortable,' but most of us would probably prefer for our own 
use a house with more than one room. 

Mr. Sinclair showed us the utmost kindness in every way, 
giving us good advice, good horses, good men, and with no more 



152 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

show than if he had merely run down to the " guard" on his own 
business. The kindness we appreciated most at the time, it 
must be confessed, was a huge shoulder of fresh buffalo meat, 
some tongues, and a bag of new potatoes. Terry was at once 
set to work on the fresh meat with orders to cook enough for 
twenty, with a corresponding allowance of potatoes. None of us 
had ever tasted fresh buffalo before, nor fresh meat of any kind 
since leaving Red River ; and as we had resolved not to go out 
of our way to hunt, though Mr. Sinclair told us that buffalo were 
in vast numbers twenty miles to the south of Fort Pitt, it was 
only fair that our-self denial should be repaid by a good supper 
at the "guard." And that supper was an event in our journey. 
Falling to with prairie appetites, each man disposed of his 
three portions with ease. The prairie wolves were yelping not 
far off, but nobody paid any attention to them. Tender buffalo 
steak, and new potatoes in delicious gravy, absorbed every one's 
attention. The delights of the table when you are in the best 
of health and keen-set are certainly wonderful ; and as a junior 
member of the party remarked, handing in his plate for a fourth 
or fifth helping, ' man, what a lot more you can eat when the 
things are good ' ! Getting out of the tent after supper with an 
effort, a spectacle to gladden a philanthropist's heart was 
presented round Terry's fire. The men were cooking and 
eating, laughing and joking, old Haroosh presiding as king of the 
feast. He sat on a hillock, holding tit-bits to the fire on a little 
wooden spit, for Terry's frying pan could not keep up to him, 
while his greasy face shone in the ruddy light; so they 
continued till we went to bed. That they were at it all night 
cannot be positively affirmed, but in the morning the first sight 
that met our eyes was Haroosh in the same place and attitude, 
cooking and eating in a semi-comatose state. 

August 22nd. — There was at least an hour's racing and chasing 
of the "guard" horses this morning, before our quota could be 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN, 1$$ 

caught ; but, we got such good horses in exchange for our poorest 
that the delay was not grudged ; and three smart Indians, Louis,. 
Chceman (the little fellow), and Kisanis (the old man), in stead 
of the Carlton three. We breakfasted at sunrise and said 
' goodbye ' to Mr. Sinclair at 7 o'clock. On account of the 
lateness of the start, we divided the day's journey into two 
1 spells/ one of nineteen and the other of twenty-one miles. 

The country round the " guard " is fertile, and beautiful in 
outline ; Mr. Sinclair said that it would yield anything. At the 
Fort and along the sandy banks of the river, their crops often 
suffered from Indians, droughts, and early frosts ; but it was 
impossible to have their farm ten miles away from where they 
lived. 

Our first " spelling-place " to-day was Stony Lake ; after 
dinner we crossed Frog Creek, Middle Creek, and Moose Creek, 
and camped on the banks of the last named. 

This was one of our best days. Everything contributed to 
make it supremely enjoyable. We had fresh spirited horses under 
us, a cloudless sky and bright sun above ; and an atmosphere 
exhilarating as some pure gentle stimulant, The country was 
of varied beauty ; rich in soil, grasses, flowers, wood, and water ; 
infinitely diversified in colour and outline. From elevated points, 
far and wide reaches of the same could be seen ; here was ho 
dreary monotonous prairie such as fancy had sometimes painted, 
but a land to live in and enjoy life. And last but perhaps to us 
most important item, Terry had in his cart new potatoes and 
buffalo steak, good as any porter-house or London rump steak, 
enough even for our appetites ; man could want nothing more 
for animal enjoyment. In the forenoon, we rode up two or three 
hill-sides to get wider views. With all the beauty of former 
days, there was now what we had. often craved for, variety of 
wood. Clumps and groves of tall white spruce in the gullies 
and valleys, and along lake sides, branching poplars with occa- 



154 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

sional white birch and tamarack, mingled with the still prevailing- 
aspen. The sombre spruces were the greatest relief. They 
gave a deeper hue to the landscape, and their tall pointed heads 
broke the distant sky line. Recent fires had desolated much of 
the country, but there was enough of the old beauty left to show 
what it had been and what it could soon be made. Sometimes 
our course lay across a wide open, or up or down a long bare 
slope ; and, sometimes through a forest where the trees were 
far enough apart for easy riding, while a little beyond the 
wood seemed impenetrably close. In the afternoon we 
crossed plateaus extending between the different streams that 
meander to the south ; and here the trail ran by what looked 
like well cultivated old clearings, hemmed in at varying distances 
by graceful trees, through the branches of which the waters of a 
lake, or the rough back of a hill gleamed, while high uplands 
beyond gave a definite horizon. The road was not very good in 
many places because of the steep Kttle hills near the creeks, or 
boulders, deep ruts, mole and badger holes ; but ten dollars a 
mile would put it in good repair, and, as it was then, our carts did 
their usual forty miles easily. 

After dinner we came on our first camp of Crees — a small 
body, of five or six tents, that had not gone after the buffalo, but 
had remained quietly beside some lakes, living on berries and 
wild ducks. Two broad-backed healthy young squaws met us 
first, coming up from a lake with half-a-dozen dogs. One 
squaw had a bag, filled with ducks, on her neck, and the other 
had tied her game around the back of a dog. Some of the men 
came up to shake hands all round and to receive the plug of 
tobacco they looked for. Others, mostly manly looking feilows, 
lounged round in dignified indifference, with blanket or buffalo 
robe, folded gracefully about them, — evidently knowing or 
hoping that every attitude was noticed. Not a man was doing a 
single hand's turn, and not a woman was idle. The women 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 155 

wished to trade their ducks for tea or flour ; but if we stopped 
the carts and opened the boxes there would be no getting away 
from them that night, so the word was . passed to push ahead ; 
we were not, however, to be let off so easily. Eight or ten miles 
further on, two elderly men on horseback — evidently Chiefs, — 
overtook us, and riding up to our Chief with all the grace of 
gentlemen of the old regime, again extended their hands. Being 
welcomed and invited to ride on and camp with us, they bowed 
with an ease and self-possession that any of us might have envied, 
and joined our party. There was not the slightest appearance of 
obsequiousness, although they were really begging for their sup- 
per. At the camp, the Chief treated them with great civility, order- 
ing pemmican, as they preferred it to fresh buffalo, and handing 
them the fragrant tea they love so well ; not a muscle of 
their faces moved, though their souls were rejoicing ; a soft 
smile when they first came upon us, and a more melancholy 
smile in the morning when departing, were the only indications 
of feeling that either gave. With the exception of the dull, half- 
opened, Mongolian, cross-eyes, they were handsome fellows, with 
well cut, refined Italian features — handsomer than any of us or 
even than the young English trader, who " never allowed an 
Indian to enter his rooms ; if a Chief came along, he might sit 
in the kitchen awhile " — so far below the "salt," have the "sons 
of the soil " to sit now. But " Rolling Mud " and the " Walker 
with out-turned feet," as our two guests were called, were entitled 
to move in the highest circles, as far as appearance and a perfect 
nil admirari manner were concerned. They could be guaranteed 
lo look on, without opening their eyes, even at a modern ball. 

In the afternoon's drive, the big Carlton waggon, drawn by 
the span, broke down. The iron bolt, connecting the two fore 
wheels with the shaft, broke in two. Shaganappi had been suffi- 
cient for every mishap hitherto, but this seemed too serious a 
case for it; but, with the ready help of Mr. McDougal, 



156 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

shaganappi triumphed, and we were delayed only an hour. No 
one ever seems non-plussed on the plains ; for every man is a 
"Jack of all trades," and accustomed to make-shifts. When an 
axle broke, the men would haul out a piece of white birch, shape 
it into something like the right thing, stick it in, tie it with shaga- 
nappi, and be jogging on at the old rate before a professional car- 
riage builder would make up his mind what was best to be done. 

Both, yesterday and to-day, the sasketoon berries, that are 
put in the best or " berry pemmican," were pointed out to us, 
and the creeper which the Indians make into " kinni-kinnick/' 
when they can't get the bark of the red willow to mix with their 
tobacco. The sasketoon are simply what are known in Nova 
Scotia as " Indian pears," and the kinni-kinnick creeper is our 
squaw-berry plant. 

Just as the sun was setting behind the Moose Mountain, we 
had ascended the high ridge that rises from Middle Creek, and 
were crossing the narrow plateau that separates it from Moose 
Creek. Getting across the plateau to the edge of the descent 
to Moose Creek, a glorious view opened out in the glowing 
twilight. To our immediate left, coming from the west, and 
winding south and east, the Saskatchewan, not quite so broad as 
at Carlton, but without any break or sand-bar, flowed like a 
mass of molten lead, between far extending hills, covered with 
young aspens ; like the Rhine with its vine-clad slopes near 
Bingen. Right beneath, was the deep rugged valley of Moose 
Creek, broken into strange transverse sections by its own action 
and by swirling overflows of its great neighbour, and running 
round north and north-west into the heart of the mountain that 
fed it, and that formed our horizon. Crossing the creek we camped 
on its bank. Our tents were pitched and fires burning brightly, 
long before the twilight had forsaken the west. Then a mighty 
supper of buffalo steak for us, and limitless pemmican for our Cree 
visitors, rounded off one of the pleasantest days of the expedition. 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 1 57 

August 23rd. — Up early and away from camp before sunrise. 
The sun usually rose and set in so cloudless a sky on the prairies 
that the Chief had all along roughly determined the longitude of 
our camps and the local time in a simple way, that may as well be 
mentioned. His watch kept Montreal time, and he knew 
that the longitude of Montreal was 73 ° 33 '. Sunset last night 
was at 9.34 P.M., and sunrise this morning at 7.26 A.M., by his 
watch. That gave fourteen hours and eight minutes of sunlight : 
the half of that added to the hour of sunrise made 2.30 P.M, on 
his watch, to be mid-day. We were thus two hours and a half 
behind Montreal time, and as four minutes are equal to a degree 
of longitude, we learned that we were 37 ° 36' west of Montreal, 
or in longitude 1 1 1 ° . At the same time we were in latitude 54 ° , 
that is 7 ° or 350 miles north of the boundary line, and 700 
miles north of Toronto. Yet the vegetation was of the same 
general character as that of Ontario ; and Bishop Tache told us 
that at Lac La Biche, 100 miles further north, they had their 
favourite wheat ground, where the wheat crop could always be 
depended on. But we can go still farther north. Mr, King, the 
second H. B. officer who had joined our party at Carlton, told 
us that he had never seen better wheat or root crops than are 
raised at Fort Liard on the Liard river — a tributary of the 
MacKenzie, in latitude 60 ° . This testimony is confirmed by 
Sir John Richardson who says " wheat is raised with profit at 
Fort Liard, latitude 60 ° 5' North, longitude 122 ° 31' West, 
and four or five hundred feet above the sea." And numerous 
authorities from MacKenzie in 1787, who gave his name to the 
great river of the Arctic regions, down to H. B. officers and 
miners of the present day, give similar testimony concerning 
immense tracts along the Athabaska and the Peace rivers. 

There are several reasons why the isothermal lines should 
extend so far north in this longitude, and why there should be 
the same flora as farther south, though the summers are shorter. 



158 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

The low altitude of the Rocky Mountains, as they run north, 
permits the warm moisture-laden air of the Pacific to get across ; 
and, meeting then the colder currents from the north, refreshing 
showers are emptied on the plains. These northern plains of 
ours have also a comparatively low elevation, while farther south 
in the United States, on the same longitude, the semi-desert 
rainless plateaus are from five to eight thousand feet high. 
Combined with these facts, another may be suggested, that, — the 
summer days being much longer as you go north, — plants get 
more of the sun, more light and warmth within the same period 
of growing weather. The summer days where we are now, for 
instance, must be two hours longer than at Toronto. 

But these and such like general reasons by no means deter- 
mine the fitness of every section of the country for cereals. 
Much land south of 54 ° is unsuited for wheat because of 
drought or early frosts. Probably this is so with much along 
the banks of the Saskatchewan. It has been proved at any rate 
that there is less or more risks, in places ; but those places are 
as a rule splendidly adapted for stock-raising, and, in such a 
country as this, cattle and sheep are just as much needed as 
flour. 

To-day we travelled 42 miles. The first ' spell,' ten miles to 
' the Little Lake,' was over a cold and moist soil as shown by 
the more northern character. of the vegetation. The ground was 
profusely covered with the low scrub birch, which is found every- 
where in the extreme north. The second ' spell ' was fourteen 
miles, over ground that improved as we journeyed west, across 
Dog-rump Creek and, up the opposite hill, and, four miles farther 
on, to two beautiful lakes well stocked with wild fowl. The 
creek gets its peculiar name from a bluff, projecting beyond a 
bold ridge that bounds the valley to the west. A lively fancy 
sees in the bluff a resemblance to a dog's rump. Beavers had 
built a dam a few days before, across the creek below the road, 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 159 

and in consequence the water was too deep for the blackboards. 
Untackling the horses we ran the buckboards across a slight 
bridge of willow rods that some good Samaritan had made for 
foot passengers. The road then wound up to the top of the 
ridge and gained the plateau beyond, through an extremely 
picturesque narrow steep pass. From the summit, we had a good 
view of the creek meandering through valley and lake towards 
the Saskatchewan. 

At the second ' spelling-place ' we caught up to a large 
'brigade' of Hudson's Bay carts, that had left Carlton for 
Edmonton a week before us, heavily laden with stores. They 
were driven by several of Mr. McDougal's people, half-breeds 
and Crees, from Victoria, an united family of husband, wife, and 
half-a-dozen young children being at the head of the brigade. 
The expense of bringing anything into or sending anything out 
of the country by this old fashioned way is of course enormous. 
The prime cost of the articles is a bagatelle. Transport swallows 
up everything. No wonder that the price of a pound of tea, 
sugar, or salt, is here exactly the same. They weigh the same, 
and cost the same for carriage. One of the Crees in this brigade, 
called Jack, was pointed out to us as having in the last Indian 
war done a very plucky thing. A company of Crees and half- 
breeds from Victoria were hunting buffalo on the plains. One 
morning Jack and an old man were left behind to bring up the 
kitchen and baggage carts, while the main body started ahead 
for another camp. Just as they got over the first ridge, a war- 
party of Blackfeet swooped down on them with their usual 
terrific yells. They turned campwards, from the mere instinct 
of flight, though there was no relief there. The Blackfeet had 
just got up to them, shot and scalped the two hindmost, and 
would soon have massacred every one, but at this moment Jack, 
who had heard the yells, appeared over the ridge, and firing his 
gun at the enemy, shouted to an imaginary force behind him, 



l60 OCEAN TO OCEAN, 

u hurrah ! here they are boys ; we've caught them at last." The 
old man at the same moment was seen hurrying up, and the 
Blackfeet imagining that they had fallen into a trap, turned tail, 
and fled precipitately. 

The third ' spell ' was eighteen miles, over fine meadow land, 
covered with rich pasturage that extended without break for 
fifty miles to the north. On the road the Doctor shot some 
ducks for the pot. Every lakelet had at least one flock among 
the reeds, or swimming about ; but it was unsatisfactory work 
shooting them, unless they were close to the shore, not having 
a dog to bring them out A little after sunset, we camped near 
the Riding or Snake Lake. 

As we were now only 1 10 to 120 miles from Edmonton, it was 
proposed at supper that Horetzky should ride ahead with our 
letters of introduction to Mr. Hardisty ; order pack-saddles, 
secure a guide, and make as many arrangements as possible, for 
our journey over the mountains. At Edmonton, or at any rate 
at Lake St. Ann's, fifty miles farther west, wheels must be 
discarded and everything carried on pack horses. A different 
outfit is required and as some of it has to be made to order, 
time would be gained for the whole party if one got to the Fort 
before the others. Macau lay who had been away on a visit to 
Scotland for the last twelve months, and wdiose wife and family 
were at Edmonton, offered to accompany Horetzky. So it was 
decided that after an early breakfast next morning, the two 
should ride on rapidly, each taking two horses, a blanket, and 
some pemmican. 

August 24th. — Rose early, but as we breakfasted at the camp, 
for the sake of Horetzky and Macaulay, it was 6 o'clock before 
all got away. Our two couriers preceded us by half an hour, 
but expected to be at Edmonton a day and a half before us. 
Passed the Riding or — as it is called on Palliser's Map — the 
Snake Lake. The smell of decaying fish-offal explained the 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. l6l 

object for which a number of log shanties had been erected, at 
two points near its shores. The lake swarms with white-fish. 
Soon after, we crossed the creek that issues from the lake. 
The cellar of a deserted shanty by the roadside showed the 
character of the soil ; eighteen inches of black loam, and then 
successive layers of tenacious clay, through the first of which the 
tissues of plants extended. 

The country now became more hilly ; the hill-sides covered with 
heavy wood, and the hollows with marshes or lakelets. Vegeta- 
tion everywhere was wonderfully luxuriant. Flowers re-appeared, 
but the general colour was blue in place of the former yellow 
or lilac ; mint, blue bells, a beautiful tall larkspur, but prin- 
cipally light blue and dark blue asters. Our Botanist was disap- 
pointed by finding that, amid such wealth of vegetation, there 
were but few new species. The same plants have kept by us for a 
thousand miles. Mint and a saxifragaceous plant had accom- 
panied us from Rainy Lake; gentians, asters, castilia, anemones, 
and golden rods from the eastern verge of the prairie. 

We divided the day into two ' spells ;' — sixteen miles of the 
richest soil and pasturage ; and twenty-four miles to Victoria 
over a great deal of inferior ground. One large section of this 
showed little but scrub birch. Another, ten miles broad, near 
Victoria, was a sandy ridge producing scrub pine, or as the 
people here called it 'cypress ;\ very like the country between 
Bathurst and Miramichi, N. B., that was burnt over by the great 
Miramichi fire, and where in the Lower Provinces the scrub 
pine is chiefly found. The ground was literally covered with 
cranberries, bearberries, the uva ursi, and other creepers. 

In the forenoon the water was in lakes ; in the afternoon in 

streams, all of which fortunately for us were bridged, roughly 

indeed, but the worst bridge was a great improvement on deep 

black quagmire. Pine, White Mud, and Smoking Lake Creeks 

were the suggestive names of the chief streams, names that we 
K 



162 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

had heard before and probably would again. America has been 
called the country of inventions, — but it cannot invent names. 
In the North-west, there are half-a-dozen ' Red Deers,' ' White 
Muds ' ' Vermilions ' ; and several other names are nearly as 
popular. 

The first part of the day was bright and pleasant as usual, 
but at two o'clock heavy clouds gathered in the north-west. 
The wind drifted the thickest masses completely to our right, 
while all to the left the sky remained a clear bright blue. ' It 
thundered on the right ' ; and then we could see the rain falling 
in half-a-dozen places while intervening districts escaped. At one 
point, not very far from us, the rain must have been terrific, and 
right thankful were we that our course had not taken us there, 
or we would have had Rat Creek over again. The central mass 
of cloud hung over this point, and all at once seemed to have 
the bottom knocked out of it, when a deluge either of rain or hail 
— probably of both — descended, like a continuous pillar, to the 
ground for a quarter of an hour, uniting the earth to the clouds as 
if by a solid band. The end of the tail of this cloud swept 
round over our heads, and gave us first a gust of wind, and then 
a smart shower of rain and hail for two or three minutes. The 
sky cleared completely at 3 o'clock ; but, two hours later, as we 
crossed Smoking Lake Creek, and entered again on good land, 
thundery clouds rose the second time from the western horizon, 
and soon covered the sun and sky before us. We were now in 
the bounds of Mr. McDougal's old mission settlement ; and at his 
word we " hustled up," that is, pushed our horses to their utmost 
speed, to reach a good camping ground before the storm would 
burst. We got to the spot aimed at in time, our course for two 
miles being up a rich valley that is now behind the northern 
ridge or bank of the Saskatchewan, but that formerly, when 
the river was higher, must have been one of its beds, the 
intervening ridge being then an island. The settlement and 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 1 63 

Hudson's Bay fort of Victoria is on the river slope of this ridge, 
and thus travellers, passing along the main trail up the valley, 
might be in entire ignorance that there was a settlement near. 
When we rode up, however, two or three men were making hay 
in the valley, and, hailing the sight as a sure sign that civilized 
beings and dwellings must be not far off, we camped at a spring 
beside them ; and, with a rapidity that astonished them and 
ourselves, had everything made tight before the rain commenced. 
After all the threatening the shower did not amount to much, 
in half an hour the sky was clear again, and the Doctor and Mr. 
McDougal drove over to the fort, a mile distant, for supplies, and 
to announce that there would be service in the church next day. 
They returned after dark with beef, bread, and milk. Mr. Tait 
the Hudson's Bay agent, had no fresh meat ; but, hearing of our 
arrival, with oriental hospitality, had ordered a young ox to be 
killed and a quarter sent over for our use. 

August 25 th. — Another day of rest, and a long sleep to begin 
it with. At 10 A. M. walked over the ridge to service, at 
Victoria. The church, (which is also used as a school-room) the 
Mission House, and Fort are all at the west end of the settle- 
ment. The log-houses of the half-breeds, (English and Scotch) 
intermingled with the tents of the Crees, extend in a line from 
this west end along the bank of the river, each man having a 
frontage on the river, and his grain planted in a little hollow 
that runs behind the houses, beneath the main rise of the 
ridge. Most of their hay they cut in the valley, on the other 
side of the ridge where we had camped. 

The farming is on a very limited scale, as the men prefer 
hunting buffalo, fishing, or freighting for the Company to steady 
agricultural labour, and neither farming nor gardening can 
succeed well, when the seeds are merely thrown into the ground 
in spring, and the ground is not looked at again till autumn, 
when every thing is expected to be ripe and ready for in- 



1 64 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

gathering. The settlement is seven years old, and consists now 
of between twenty and thirty families of half-breeds and from 
ten to a hundred tents of Crees, according to the time of the 
year, each tent housing on an average, seven or eight souls. It 
owes its origin to Mr. McDougal who selected the place as a 
Mission field because the Crees resorted to it ; and as a suitable 
locality for a half-breed settlement, on account of its advantages 
of soil, river, lakes abounding in fish and wild fowl, and nearness 
to the plains where the buffalo are always found. Last year Mr. 
McDougal was removed to Edmonton, and the charge of Victoria 
given to Mr. Campbell who had been conducting a successful 
Mission among the Stonies at Woodville to the south-west. Mr. 
Campbell was at present on his way home from Red River, where 
he had gone to attend the first Wesleyan conference of Manitoba, 
and consequently there had been no one attending to the 
Mission for some weeks, except the schoolmaster. This removal 
of Missionaries from one tribe or even station, where they have 
gained the confidence of the Indians, to another locality, seems a 
mistake to outsiders. The personal influence of the Missionary 
is the only thing that can be counted upon in work among 
heathen, or any rude and primitive people, and personal influence 
can be gained only after long intercourse with them. 

When we arrived at the church it was almost filled with about 
eighty whites, half-breeds, and Crees. The men sat on one side, 
the women on the other, and the children in a little gallery or 
loft with the schoolmaster and monitors. The service was in 
English, but some Cree hymns were sung, and Mr. McDougal 
announced that there would be service in Cree in the evening, 
through the medium of an interpreter. The conduct of all 
present from first to last was most devout, notwithstanding that 
many present understood but imperfectly what was said. The 
children led the singing, and though there was lack of bass-voices 
on account of the absence of the principal members of the choir, it 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. l6$ 

was singularly sweet and correct. Some of us were moved more 
than we cared to show, when the first Cree hymn was sung. 

Service over two of our party dined at the Mission House, 
and the others at the Fort ; and, after a walk through the settle- 
ment along the bank of the river, we returned to the church to 
see the Sunday School, Mr. McKenzie the teacher was about 
to leave for another mission, and his successor Mr. Snyder was 
also present. There were sixty names, forty of them half-breeds, 
and twenty Indians, on the roll ; but only thirty-two were 
present, as whole families were absent, freighting or hunting. 
We examined the three advanced classes, numbering twenty-one, 
of the biggest boys and girls. All read the English Bible more 
or less fluently and with understanding, for they answered every 
question put to them. Their knowledge of hymns was such as 
could be found only in a Methodist school ; if any of us named 
a hymn in the collection, the tune was at once raised and all 
joined in without books. The more ambitious tunes were of 
course the favourites with the children. The Indians delight in 
hymn singing, the Missionaries take advantage of this and 
make it one great means of reaching their hearts. Heathen 
Crees who come to Victoria only for a few weeks send their 
children to the school; they pick up some hymns at any rate, 
and sing them w r hen far away on the plains. 

Mr. Snyder had been schoolmaster for the last few years at 
White-Fish Lake, a settlement of Crees fifty miles to the north, 
where every one acknowledges that good work has been done. 
He had eighty Cree children at his school there. When the 
Indians moved out to the plains to hunt buffalo, the master 
would pack up his spelling books and slates, and go off with 
them, setting up his establishment wherever they halted. He 
spent from two to six months of the year, teaching in this rotary 
style, — and liked it as every man with a love of the picturesque 
in him would — hunting half the day, teaching the other half. 



1 66 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

The Crees at White-Fish Lake are all Christianized and value 
the school highly. They are beginning to settle down to steady 
farming-work too, several families not going to the plains now, 
but raising wheat, barley and potatoes instead. At Victoria 
wheat has been sowed for seven successive years, and was a 
failure only once, the cause then being an extreme local drought. 
At White-Fish Lake it has never been a total failure. Victoria 
is on the most northerly bend of the North Saskatchewan ; the 
plateau is very elevated ; and many ot the plants in the country 
round, have more of the sub-arctic character than in any other 
part of the " fertile belt ;" so that we were not surprised when 
told that there were generally light frosts in July and August. 
Indeed Mr. McDougal had been warned in planting the settle- 
ment, that he was choosing one of the worst spots on the river ; 
the future may show that he was wiser than his friends. 

In the evening, we went to church again ; more Crees were 
present than in the forenoon, but not so many of the half-breeds. 
Mr. Tait acted as interpreter and also led the meeting, with 
modesty and fervour, in prayer in Cree. It must be a great 
advantage to a Missionary to have such a man in charge of the 
Fort. 

We had seen enough to-day to convince us, more than all the 
arguments in the world, that missionary labour among the 
Indians is a reality, and that the positive language on the 
other side is the language of ignorance, self-interest or down- 
right opposition to the Gospel. The aims of traders and Mis- 
sionaries with regard to the Indians are different ; the former 
wish that they should continue hunters, the latter that they 
should take to steady employment. It is not wonderful then 
that some traders should feel annoyed at what they regard as 
a steady working against their interest. But, as the Indian has 
no chance of existence except by conforming to civilized ways, 
the sooner that the Government or the Christian people awake 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 1 67 

to the necessity of establishing schools among every tribe the 
better. Little can be done with the old, it may be two or three 
generations before old habits among a people are changed ; but, 
Ly always taking hold of the young, the work can be done. A 
Mission without schools is a mistake, almost a crime. And the 
Methodists deserve the praise of having seen and vigorously acted 
on this, and they can, therefore, point to more visible proofs of 
success in their Indian Missions than perhaps any other church. 

It is greatly to the credit of the Indians in British America, 
that they have never injured or stolen from any Missionary. 
They have plundered posts, stripped traders naked, and mur- 
dered some who perhaps had given them cause ; but even when 
at war, the Missionary is allowed to enter and speak in their 
great Councils and is everywhere treated with respect. Reverence 
is a strong trait in the Indian character. His own language supplies 
no words for profane swearing ; if he wishes to blaspheme, he 
must borrow from the French or English. Is not his dignity of 
speech and manner connected with this veneration for Deity ? 

We invited Mr. Tait and the schoolmasters to walk over the 
ridge and have supper with us. Mrs. Campbell also did us the 
honour of coming, and, so for the first time, our camp was graced 
with the presence of a lady. Her presence lighted up everything, 
and had a very appreciable effect on our style of passing things 
round the table ; every one was as anxious to help her to 
something as if she had been Her Majesty in person; Terry, 
naturally and nationally the soul of politeness, was especially 
attentive. Rather than let her put preserved peaches on the 
plate beefsteak had been on, he removed the plate and whipping 
out his pocket handkerchief, that had not been washed since he 
left Fort Garry, proceeded to clean it. Luckily the Doctor 
noticed him in time to snatch the plate away, or — but we must 
draw a veil over Terry as cook or table-maid ; in no house is it 
wise to look too closely into how things are done in the kitchen. 



1 68 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

Since the commencement of our journey, Sundays had in- 
variably been our most pleasant and profitable days, and this 
was no exception. The kindness of every one at Victoria was 
something not soon to be forgotten. They welcomed us for our 
own sakes, and for the end the expedition had in view, as they 
had long prayed for the opening up of the country. It was in 
our favour also here as elsewhere that a Doctor was with us. 
He visited and prescribed for all the sick in the settlement, and, 
finding in the Fort a medicine chest that had been sent out as a 
present by Dr. Ray but had never been used, he explained to 
Mr. Tait how and when to give the different medicines, and 
wrote out general directions that could be easily understood and 
acted upon. 

August 26th. — Rose very early, the Doctor acting as camp- 
master and making every one fly round, so that we got off half 
an hour before sunrise. The thermometer then stood at thirty 
degrees, and heavy hoar-frost lay on the rich deep grass. A dense 
fog rose as the frost exhaled in dew, and, the sun's rays striking 
on this, formed a beautiful fog-bow that hung before us during 
fully an hour's travelling. Passing up the valley parallel to the 
river, to where it turns southerly in a somewhat different direction, 
we ascended the plateau on the other side and skirted its edge 
for some distance, going through tall heavy grass and a country 
which seemed to possess every qualification for successful stock- 
raising. The road showed the influence of recent rains that, the 
Victoria settlers told us, had been so heavy this August as to 
have completely stopped haying operations. Every marsh was 
a bog, every creek swollen, and as good soil makes bad roads, 
our progress was necessarily slow. Still by getting a good start, 
and by " pegging away " we made forty-four miles in our three 
" spells. " The first was to the Wassetenow, (or opening in the 
bank) so called from the cleft it has made, in the ridge, to 
get to the Saskatchewan. The cleft, instead of shqwing the 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 1 69 

usual broad rounded valley, is cut sharp and clean as if with a 
knife, partly by the force of the stream and partly by land slides. 
We next passed successively " Sucker " " Vermilion " and 
" Deep" Creeks, besides several smaller ones, and camped at the 
last named. The road descended twice to the Saskatchewan, 
which showed the same clayey look as at Carlton, and ran 
with almost as great a volume though more than three hundred 
miles nearer its source. For thirty miles to-day the trail was 
through thick woods of aspen, poplars, birch, tamarack, spruce 
and pine. Much of the wood was good timber, from one to two 
feet in diameter with tall straight shafts, as thick fifty or sixty 
feet up as when five or six feet from the ground. There are 
occasionally alternate sections of aspen and spruce for half a 
mile or so ; in one place the underbrush thick and green ; in 
another the soil so bare and the trees so branchless, that move- 
ment in any direction is easy. 

Camped before sunset within twenty-seven miles of Edmonton, 
and in honour of the event brought out our only bottle of claret. 
As we had no ice, Terry shouted to " Souzie " to bring some 
cold water, but no Souzie appearing he varied the call to "Pim- 
mican ! " This brought Souzie to the front, and great was his 
indignation when a bucket was put into his hands, instead of the 
rich pemmican he was never tired of feasting on. Terry had a 
decidedly Irish contempt for Indians, half-breeds, or " coloured 
gentlemen " of any kind ; and Souzie was especially obnoxious, 
because of his magnificent appetite, and because with Indian 
carelessness he often mislaid the belongings of the party, as if, 
remarked Terry confidentially to the Secretary: — "I carried 
tillygraph wires in my head." 

August 27th. — Off this morning again before sunrise, and 
breakfasted fourteen miles from camp at a little Creek near 
" Horse Hill, " where the " guard " of Edmonton was formerly 
located. On the way crossed a strong rapid-running stream 



170 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

called Sturgeon Creek, from which twenty-five pound fish are 
often taken. We had left the thick woods last evening, and the 
country to-day was open and elevated. Thirty miles to our left 
the Beaver Hills, on the other side of the Saskatchewan, formed 
a bold background of deep blue. Mr. McDougal pointed out a 
spot near our breakfast "spelling place," where his predecessor had 
a remarkable escape when travelling. He had intended to camp 
on Horse Hill but when within a mile of it, so furious a storm 
came on that he dismounted and crouched for protection under 
a bank with overhanging low willow bushes. When the storm 
passed over, he rode on to the hill and found on the very spot 
he would have camped on, a horse that had just been killed 
by the lightning. 

At eleven o'clock, arrived at Edmonton and found that 
Horetsky had made arrangements to enable us to start next day- 
Mr. Hardisty in the quiet business-like way, and with the same 
kindness that many a traveller has experienced before, had done 
everything to forward our views. We pitched tents on the bank 
three quarters of a mile down the river from the Fort, near Mr. 
McDougal's house and the new Church he is building, and had 
the whole party photographed ; tents, carts, buck-boards, with 
Terry, seated on his pots and pans, mending his pants and 
smoking the inevitable inseparable cutty, in the foreground. 

The first great half of our journey, the prairie as distinguished 
from the mountain part, was over. It had not been all prairie 
or anything like it, and the second part would not be all moun- 
tain. We were not obliged to discard our carts for another 
fifty miles, and the mountains were still two hundred miles 
distant. But, Edmonton may be considered the end of the 
journey across the plains and the beginning of the woods ; and 
is the point at which to prepare for crossing the Rocky Mountains. 
It is the headquaters of the Company's posts on the Saskat- 
chewan, and here we were to take our leave of the great river 



mm 

i I 




ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 171 

Up to this point it had been all plain sailing, but now we were 
told to expect toil and trouble. 

At Edmonton we looked with great interest for the section of 
coal that crops out on the river bank. ' Is it coal or not', was 
the question. Some had called it bitumenous shale, with very 
little bitumen, and others lignite. A bushel or two was brought 
up from the river side at our request ; it looked like shale, or 
dull dried stuff -from which most of the bitumen had leaked out. 
Trying it in the smiddy, it burnt well and gave a good heat 
when the bellows was applied, but it would be very difficult to 
kindle without the bellows. It keeps burning a long time and 
leaves a great deal of dirt, dust and ash, worse in this respect 
than the Pictou coal, that Captain Davidson used to declare 
yielded " at the rate of two ton of ashes to one of coal. " The 
section' at Edmonton is only three feet thick, and it crops out in 
several places, with a conglomerate beneath it that resembles 
ironstone in nodules ; but, at the Pembina river, seventy miles to 
the west there is a seam ten feet thick that we would see ; and 
Mr. Hardisty informed us that at the Rocky Mountain House, 
one hundred and forty miles distant to the south-west, the 
seam is ten feet, the coal of a much superior quality, and 
used regularly in the forge. Many other seams are found over 
a wide extent of country, and it is but reasonable to infer that 
several of these will yield good fuel, for even in the richest coal 
countries there is no such abundant outcrops as here. What we 
tried was picked up from the river or from the outcrop ; and 
was hard and shaly and therefore inferior as fuel ; but had it not 
been very hard it would probably have crumbled away by 
exposure to the air and rain and snow and frost, and its face 
been covered up completely with earthy and vegetable matter, 
so that no surface traces of its presence would have been left. 
A little boring would soon settle the question, for the beds are 
horizontal and not very deep. It is desirable that the whole 



172 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

truth should soon be known on the subject, for if there is 
abundance of good coal, the point most important, next to the 
water supply on the plains, in the future of our North-west will 
be decided in our favour. The Edmonton specimens being 
evidently inferior, we resolved not to make up our own minds 
until we saw the Pembina seams. 

The Company works a large farm at Edmonton, and with a 
success that is very encouraging, especially when it is remembered 
that the methods are comparatively rude, and that there is much 
better land to the north, south and east. They have raised 
wheat for thirty years, and it has failed only two or three times; 
barley and potatoes and turnips are sure crops. The usual 
difficulties from the Indians camping near a Fort have been 
experienced. A band of strange Indians come along, and, 
without the slightest idea that they are doing anything objec- 
tionable, use the fences for tent poles or fuel ; and their horses 
then getting into the fields destroy much of the crop. But in 
spite of these and other hindrances, a thousand bushels of wheat 
are usually stored from a sowing of a hundred ; and last year, 
two hundred and fifty kegs of potatoes (eight gallon kegs used 
instead of bushels) were planted, and about five thousand were 
dug. The same land has been used for the farm for thirty 
years, without any manure worth speaking of being put on it. 
Part is intervale and part upland. 

The uplands do not yield such good crops because there is a 
slight infusion of alkali in the surface soil, which subsoil plough- 
ing would probably do away with. 

In the evening the Secretary held Divine service in ' the ball 
room " of the Fort. About fifty men, most of them "employed 
about the post, were present. There were also some miners 
who had recently arrived from Peace River, and whose reports 
of the Ominica gold-mines were not very encouraging. The 
men who wash the Saskatchewan sand bars for gold make on an 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 1 73 

average four dollars per day, but that does not satisfy them ; 
five dollars a day is called " wages." This year there are only 
fifteen miners on the Saskatchewan. 

Three or four intend starting to-morrow for the Red Deer, a 
tributary of the Bow River, in some canyons of which heavier 
grains of gold than usual have been found. 

On the North Saskatchewan the gold miners or washers 
range up and down for about one hundred and thirty miles, 
Edmonton being the central point of this distance. It was for 
a long time supposed that all the gold in the Saskatchewan and 
the other rivers — in the same longitude — came from the Rocky 
Mountains, and these were diligently ' prospected ' near their 
sources. But not a trace of gold has been found there, and 
it is now thought more probable that a stratum of gold- 
bearing quartz extends across the country, some distance on 
the west side of the mountains. " Float " silver is also found in 
some of the rivers, but not in sufficient quantities to encourage 
prospecting. 

This seems the proper place, before going on with our diary, 
for some general observations on the country, between the 
North-west Angle of the lake of the Woods and Edmonton ; par- 
ticularly with a view to its capabilities as a great field for colo- 
nization. We can speak positively only of what we saw, and 
that includes a very narrow strip. All admit that the line of our 
route does not show the best land, however much they differ as 
to the quantity that is available for settlement. Some observers, 
long resident in the country, declare that the fertile belt practi- 
cally means the whole distance between the North and South 
Saskatchewan, and other vast regions to the east, north, and west, 
especially a broad belt along the bases 01 the Rocky Mountains 
to the south of Edmonton, two hundred miles long by fifty 
broad, the home of the Blackfeet, and pronounced by many to 
be the garden of the North-west. Others maintain that, as far 



174 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

as the Saskatchewan country is concerned, only a narrow belt 
along such rivers as the Battle, Vermillion, and Red Deer can 
be cultivated with success. It is not necessary to decide 
between those views now. We know on the authority of Captain 
Palliser, who crossed and re-crossed the plains several times, 
that the central American desert does extend a short way into 
British Territory forming a triangle, having for its base the 
forty-ninth parallel from longitude ioo ° to H4°W., with its 
apex reaching to the fifty-second parallel of latitude. But the 
first emigrants will select land along the courses of streams, 
especially the navigable rivers, and they will soon find out all 
about the intervening districts. 

Speaking generally of Manitoba and our North-west, along the 
line we travelled, it is impossible to doubt that it is one of the 
finest pasture countries in the world, and that a great part of it 
is well adapted for cereals. The climatological conditions are 
favourable for both stock raising and grain producing. The 
spring is nearly as early as in Ontario; the summer is more 
humid and therefore the grains, grasses, and root crops grow 
better ; the autumn bright and cloudless, the very weather for 
harvesting; and the winter has less snow and fewer snow-storms 
and though, in many parts colder, it is healthy and pleasant 
because of the still dry air, the cloudless sky, and bright sun. 
The soil is almost everywhere a peaty or sandy loam resting 
on clay. Its only fault is that it is too rich. Crop after crop 
is raised without iallow or manure. 

As regards the practical experience of farmers on the subject 
there is little to appeal to, and that little is chiefly favourable. 
The only large settlement is about Red River. The farms there 
are most inconveniently shaped, being very narrow, very long 
strips ; none of the people were skilled farmers to begin with, 
and, till the last two or three years, they had no market except 
what the H. B. Company took from them. But the Scotch 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 1 75 

farmers there are all making money now, and their testimony is 
uniformly in favour of the country being the* best in the world 
for farming purposes. 

The other settlements are few and far between, on the edges 
of rivers or lakes, where wood and water are easily obtainable. 
The population of these consists entirely of half-breeds, and 
their method of farming is unique. They are farmers, hunters,, 
fishermen, voyageurs, all in one ; the soil is scratched, three 
inches deep, early in May, some seed is thrown in, and then 
the whole household go off to hunt the buffalo. They get back 
about the first of August, spend the month haying and harvest- 
ing, and are off to the fall hunt early in September. Some are 
now so devoted to farming that they only go to one hunt in the 
year. It is astonishing that, though knowing so well ' how not 
to do it,' they raise some wheat and a good deal of barley, oats 
and potatoes. There is a great difference, however, between the 
Scotch and French half-breeds. The French who intermarried 
with the Indians in some respects became as the Indians ; just as 
the Spaniards in Mexico and South America who intermarried 
with the natives, sank to their level. The squaw was treated as 
his wife. Her people became his people, but his God her God. The 
children have all the Indian characteristics, the habits, weak- 
nesses, and ill-regulated passions of nomads. They excel the 
Indian in strength of body and endurance. They beat him on 
his own field of hunting, running, riding, power of eating or when 
necessary of abstinence ; with these are united much of French 
vivacity, love of amusement, hospitality, patience, courtesy of 
manner, and warmth of affection. When a Scotchman married 
a squaw, her position, on the contrary, was frequently not much 
higher than a servant's. He was 'the superior person' of the 
house. He continued Christian after his fashion, she continued 
pagan. The granite of his nature resisted fusion in spite of 
family and fribal influences, the attrition ot all surrounding cir- 



176 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

cumstances, and the total absence of civilization ; and the wif 
was too completely separated from him to be able to raise her 
self to his level. The children of such a couple take more afte 
the father than the mother. As a rule they are shrewd, steady 
and industrions. A Scotch half-breed has generally a field oi 
wheat before or behind his house, stacks, barn, and provision foi 
a year ahead, in his granary. The Metis has a patch of potatoes 
or a little barley, and in a year of scarcity draws his belt tightei 
or starves. It is interesting as one travels in the great North- 
west to note, how the two old allies of the middle ages have left 
their marks on the whole of this great country. The name of 
almost every river, creek, mountain or district is either French 
or Scotch. 

The climate and the soil are favourable ! What about water, 
fuel, and the summer frosts, the three points next in importance? 

A large population cannot be expected unless there is 
good water in the form of rivers, lakes, springs, or wells. In 
many parts of the prairies of the U. S., dependence is placed 
mainly on rain water collected in cisterns ; but such a supply is 
unwholesome, and to it may be attributed much of their prairie 
sickness. In connection with this question of water, the exist- 
ence of the numerous saline lakes, that has been again and again 
noted, forces itself on our attention ; the wonder, is that former 
observers have said so little about them. Palliser marks them 
on his map in two places, but they are really the characteristic 
feature of the country for hundreds of miles. In many parts 
they so completely outnumber the fresh water lakes, that it is 

" Water, water, everywhere 
And not a drop to drink." 

Some of them are from five to twenty miles long, others only 
little pools. Some are so impregnated with salt that crystals of 
sulphate of soda are formed on the surface, and a thick white 
incrustation is deposited round the shores. Others are brackish 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 1 77 

or with a salt taste that is scarcely discernible. We noted 
several facts about these lakes that may be stated. (1) That 
they have no outlet. (2) That they are often side by side with 
fresh water lakes, and that, in these cases, the latter occupy the 
higher situation and their outflow consequently falls into the for- 
mer. (3) That a few feet away from their immediate shores, 
on which marine plants grow, the usual flora and grasses of the 
country flourish. (4) That the tracks of the buffalo show 
that the water is drank by them, and horses drink it when 
they cannot get fresh water, though it acts medicinally on 
them. 

Whence have they originated ? Several theories may be sug- 
gested. Here is one that explains all the facts so far as known to 
us. Suppose that formerly a superabundant quantity of alkaline 
matter was diffused through the soil generally, over our North- 
west, as we know it is over a wide extent of the American desert 
and in sections on the Pacific coast. We found it so in some places 
where there are no lakes, and where it could be carried off by 
rivers. On the bank of the Assiniboine near Fort Ellice, simi- 
larly on the Saskatchewan near Edmonton, and at other points 
it was observed. If it had once been generally diffused through 
the soil, what must have happened in the course of centuries 
wherever there was an ordinary rainfall ? The water, percolating 
through the soil, would carry off the alkali matter into lakes and 
rivers, and it would be retained only in those lakes that had no 
outlet. This theory explains all the features of the case, and 
starts no new difficulties. It suggests too, that the one great 
reason why the American Desert must remain both desert and 
bitter is, that there is no rainfall on it, while farther north in the 
same longitude there is abundance of rain. 

Apart from those saline lakes, is there a sufficient supply of 
water ? In brief we must answer that, in many parts there is, 

in others we do not know yet. Test wells must be sunk and 
L 



178 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

then we can speak positively ; in the meantime all the indica- 
tions are in our favour. 

The question of fuel is next in importance in a country 
where the winters are severe, for corn cannot be grown for fuel 
in our North-west as it has been on the prairies of Illinois. At 
present, on account of the destructive prairie fires for successive 
years, there is little wood except along the rivers and creeks, and 
on some of the hills, until we go back to the continuous forest 
on the north, or to within two hundred miles of the Rocky 
Mountains. This scarcity of wood is of little consequence, if 
the vast coal-measures, that extend from the Red Deer and Bow 
Rivers to the McKenzie, prove to contain good coal in large 
enough seams to be worked with profit. By river or rail, coal can 
be carried in all directions for every purpose ; and it is highly 
probable, as will be pointed out hereafter, that we have the 
most extensive, perhaps the finest, coal fields in the world. The 
importance of definitely ascertaining the quality of each promi- 
nent seam is very great. But even though wood may not be 
absolutely required for fuel, every encouragemnnt for its growth 
should be given. Wood is needed for many purposes, and the 
plains would be warmer in winter if they were not treeless. 

The remaining difficulty is the recurrence of summer 
frosts. In many localities these are dreaded more than any- 
thing else. At one place in June or July, at another in August, 
sharp frosts have nipped the grain, and sometimes even the 
potatoes. At Edmonton, 2088 feet above the sea, there is 
invariably a night or two of frost between the loth and 20th of 
August. At Victoria and Fort Pitt to the east, and still more 
so at the R. C. Mission of Lake St. Albert and Lake St. Ann 
to the west of Edmonton, the grain has suffered more or less 
frequently from the same cause. This enemy is a serious one, 
for against it man seems powerless. But admitting to the full 
that there are such frosts, admitting that they cannot be avoided, 



ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 1 79 

that no improvement will ensue on the general cultivation of the 
land, the draining of bogs, and the peopling of the country, there 
remain large and fertile tracts free from them, and, where the 
frosts are frequent, other crops than wheat can be raised, and the 
pasturage remains unhurt and unrivalled. 

It is only fair to the country to add, that the power of those 
frosts to injure must be judged not by the thermometer, but by 
actual experience. It is a remarkable fact, that frost which would 
nip grain in many other countries is innocuous on the Red River 
and the Saskatchewan. Whatever the reason, and Mr. Spence 
in a recent pamphlet on * Manitoba and the North-west of the 
Dominion,' has assigned several, — such as the dryness of the 
atmosphere, the heat-retaining character of the soil, and the 
sudden change of temperature that enables vigorous plants to 
bear an atmosphere at 20 ° better than at 35 ° when the latent 
heat of the earth and the plants has been given off, — the fact is 
undoubted. Due regard to times and seasons will also enable 
the farmer to escape very often the dangers peculiar to a locality. 
Thus, at Edmonton, if they sow late and the wheat is in the 
milk when the frost comes, it is injured. Of course the remedy 
is to sow early. 

Looking fairly at all the facts, admitting all the difficulties — 
and what country has not its own drawbacks, it is impossible to 
avoid the conclusion that we have a great and fertile North-west, 
a thousand miles long and from one to four hundred miles 
broad, capable of containing a population of millions. It is a 
fair land ; rich in furs and fish, in treasures oi the forest, the 
field, and the mine ; seamed by navigable rivers, interlaced by 
numerous creeks, and beautified with a thousand lakes; broken 
by swelling uplands, wooded hill-sides, and bold ridges ; and 
protected on its exposed sides by a great desert or by giant 
mountains. The air is pure, dry and bracing all the year round ; 
giving promise of health and strength oi body and length of 



ISO OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

days. Here we have a home for our own surplus population and 
for the stream of emigration that runs from northern and central 
Europe to America. Let it be opened up to the world by rail 
and steamboat, and in an incredibly short time the present gap 
between Manitoba and British Columbia will be filled up, and a 
continuous line of loyal Provinces extend from the Atlantic tc 
the Pacific. 




, . 4&*k 

fy "it 



*« 



,w c 



CHAPTER VII. 

From Fort Edmonton to the River Athabasca. 

False Report. — Souzie's farewell. — St. Albert Mission.— Bishop Grandin.— Small pox.— 
Great Mortality. — Indian Orphans. — The Sisters of Charity. — Road to Lake St. 
Ann's.— Luxuriant Vegetation.— Pelican.— Early frosts.— Pack horses.— Leaving St. 
Ann's. — Indians. — Vapour Booths. — Thick woods. — Pembina River. — Coal.— 
Lobstick Camp.— Condemned dogs.— Beaver dams.— Murder.— Horse lost.— A Birth- 
day.— No trail.— Muskegs.— Windfalls.— Beavers.— Traces of old travellers.— Cooking 
pemmican. — Crossing the McLeod. — Wretohed Road. — Iroquois Indians. — Slow 
progress.— Merits of pemmican.— Bad Muskegs.— Un beau chemin.— A mile an hour. 
—Plum-pudding Camp. — Ten hours in the saddle. — Athabasca River.— The Rocky 
Mountains. — Bayonet Camp. 

August 28th. — It is proverbially difficult to get away in a hurry 
from an Hudson's Bay Fort, especially if outfit is required ; but, 
we were furthered, not only by the genuine kindness of Mr. 
Hardisty but by a false ajarm that quickened every one's 
movements, and so we got off early in the afternoon. 

A foolish report reached Edmonton in the forenoon, that the 
Crees and Blackfeet were fighting on the other side of the river, 
a report based, as we afterwards learned, on no other ground 
than that ' some one ' had heard shots fired, at wild duck pro- 
bably enough. Where there are no newspapers to ferret out 
and communicate the truth to every one, it is extraordinary 
what wild stories are circulated ; and how readily they are 
believed, though similar ' on dits ' have been found to be lies 
time and again. As we would be detained with long pow-wows, 
if either party crossed the river, every one helped us to hurry 
off. We had to say " good bye " not only to the Indians who 
had come from Fort Pitt, and to Mr. McDougal and the gentle- 
men of the Fort ; but also to Horetsky and to our Botanist, as 
the Chief had decided to send these two on a separate expedition 
to Peace River, by Fort Dunvegan, to report on the flora of that 
(181) 



1 82 ' OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

country, and on the nature of the northern passes through the 
Rocky Mountains. We parted with regret, for men get better 
acquainted with each other on shipboard, or in a month's travel 
in a lone-land, than they would under ordinary circumstances in 
a year. Souzie was more sorry to part with Frank than with any 
of the rest of us. He had been teaching him Cree, and Frank had 
got the length of twenty-four words which he aired on every 
possible occasion, to his tutor's unbounded delight. Souzie 
mounted his horse and waited patiently at the gate of the Fort 
for two hours, without our knowledge. When Frank came out 
he rode on with him for a mile to the height of a long slope ; 
then he drew up and putting one hand on his heart, with a 
sorrowful look, held out the other ; and, without a word, turned 
his horse and rode slowly away. 

Our number was now reduced to four. We were to drive 
out fifty miles to Lake St. Ann's, and " pack " our travelling 
stores and baggage on horses there ; taking with us the faithful 
Terry as cook, and three new men ; a guide and two packers. 
Mr. Hardisty kindly accompanied us ten miles out, to the guard 
at Lake St. Albert, to see that we got good horses. The road 
is an excellent one, and passes through a rolling prairie, dotted 
with a great number of dried marshes on each side, from which 
immense quantities of natural hay could be cut. 

Crossing the same Sturgeon River that we had crossed yester- 
day morning on our way to Edmonton, a hill rose before us 
crowned with the Cathedral Church of the Mission, the house of 
the Bishop, and the house of the Sisters of Charity ; while, up 
and down the river extended the little houses and farms of the 
settlers. We called on Bishop Grandin and found him at home, 
with six or seven of his clergy who fortunately happened to be 
in from various missions. The Bishop is from old France. The 
majority of the priests, and all the sisters, are French Canadians. 
The Bishop and his staff received us with a hearty welcome, 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 1 83 

showed us round the church, the school, the garden, and intro- 
duced us to the sisters. The church represents an extraordinary 
amount of labour and ingenuity, when it is considered that there 
is not a saw mill in the country and that every plank had to be 
made with a whip or hand saw. The altar is a beautiful 
piece of wood-work in the early Norman style, executed as 
a labour of love by two of the fathers. The sacristy behind, 
was the original log church and is still used for service in the 
winter. 

This St. Albert mission was formed about nine years ago, by 
a number of settlers- removing from Lake St. Ann's in hope of 
escaping the frosts which had several times cut down their grain 
there. It grew rapidly, chiefly from St. Ann's and Red River, 
till two years ago, when it numbered nearly one thousand, all 
French half-breeds. Then came the small-pox that raged in 
every Indian camp, and, wherever men were assembled, all up and 
down the Saskatchewan. Three hundred died at St. Albert. 
Men and women fled from their nearest and dearest. The 
priests and the sisters toiled with that devotedness that is a 
matter of course with them ; nursed the sick, shrived the dying, 
and gathered many of the orphans into their house. The scourge 
passed away, but the infant settlement had received a severe 
blow from which it is only beginning to recover. Many are the 
discouragements, material and moral, of the fathers in their 
labours, as they frankly confessed. Their congregation is migra- 
tory, spends half the year at home and the other half on the 
plains. The children are only sent to school when there are no 
buffalo to hunt, no pemmican to make, or no work of greater 
importance than education to set them at. The half-breed is 
religious, but he must indulge his passions. It is a singular fact 
that not one of them has ever become a priest, though several, 
Louis Riel among the number, have been educated at different 
missions, with a view to the sacred office. The yoke of celibacy 



184 OCEAN TO OCEAN 

is too heavy ; and fiddling, dancing, hunting, and a wild roving 
life have too many charms. 

The settlement now numbers seven hundred souls. The land 
is good, but, on account of its elevation, and other local causes, 
subject to summer frosts ; in spite of these, cereals, as well as 
root crops, succeed when any care is taken. Last year they 
reaped on the mission farm twenty returns of wheat, eighteen of 
barley, sixteen of potatoes. Turnips, beets, carrots and such 
like vegetables, grow to an enormous size. A serious drawback 
to the people is that they have no grist mill ; the Fathers could 
not get them to give up the buffalo for a summer and build one 
on the Sturgeon. They would begin it in the fall and finish it 
in the spring; but the floods swept it away half-finished, and the 
Fathers have no funds to try anything on a solid and extensive 
scale. 

The sisters took us to see their orphanage. They have twenty- 
four children in it, chiefly girls ; two-thirds of the number half- 
breeds, the rest Blackfeet or Crees who have been picked up in 
tents beside their dead parents, abandoned by the tribe when 
stricken with small-pox. The hair of the Indian boys and girls 
was brown as often as black, and their complexions were as light 
as those of the half-breeds. This would be the case with the men 
and women also, if they adopted civilized habits. Sleeping in 
the open air, with face often turned upward to a blazing sun, 
would soon blacken the skin of the fairest European. 

Last Sunday we noticed, in the congregation at Victoria, that 
while some of the old Indians had skins almost as black as 
negroes, the young men and women were comparatively fair. 
The simple explanation is that the young Crees are taking now 
to civilized ways. People at Fort Garry told us that when the 
troops arrived under Colonel Wolsely, some of them, who had 
slept or rowed the boats bare-headed under the blazing sun, were 
quite as dark-complexioned as average Indians. The gentle 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER, 1 85 

Christian courtesy and lady-like manners of the sisters at the 
mission charmed us, while the knowledge of the devoted lives 
they lead must impress, with profound respect, Protestant and 
Roman Catholic alike. Each one would have adorned a home 
of her own, but she had given up all for the sake of her Lord and 
His little ones. After being entertained by the bishop to an ex- 
cellent supper, and hearing the orphans sing, we were obliged 
to hurry away in order to camp before dark. The Doctor, how- 
ever, remained behind for an hour to visit three or four who 
were sick in their rooms, and arrange their dispensary. Taking 
leave of Mr. Hardisty also, we drove on three miles farther and 
camped. Five of us occupied one tent ; our own party of four 
and Mr. Adams, the H. B. agent at Lake St. Ann's who was 
returning from Edmonton to his post. 

August 29th. — Some of the horses were missing this morning, 
but an hour after sunrise all were found except Mr. Adams' and 
another, whose tracks were seen going in the St. Ann's or home- 
ward direction. Knowing that we would overtake them the 
start was made. After a third and fourth crossing of the Stur- 
geon river, we halted for breakfast. We then crossed it for the fifth 
and last time, caught up to the two horses quietly feeding near 
the wayside, dined at mid-day, and rode on in advance with Mr. 
Adams to St. Ann's, leaving the two carts to follow more leisure- 
ly. We reached the post an hour before sunset, having ridden 
nearly forty miles, though, as we had presented the odometer to 
Mr. McDougal, our calculations of distances were now necess- 
arily only guess work. The carts got in an hour after, and the 
tent was pitched and the carts emptied for the last time. From 
St. Ann's the road is only a horse-trail through the woods, so often 
lost in marshes or hidden by windfalls that a guide is required . 
Tents, for the sake of carrying as little weight as possible, 
were discarded for the simple "lean to"; and wheels had to be 
discarded for pack horses. Our guide was Valad, a three-quar- 



1 86 OCEAN TO OCEAN* 

ters-Indian, and our packers — Brown a Scotchman, and Beaupre 
a French Canadian ; both old packers and miners and first rate 
men. They said that the whole of next day would be required 
to arrange the pack-saddles, but they were told that we must 
get away from the post immediately after dinner, so that one 
" spell " might be made on the 30th, and a long day on the 31st. 
The road travelled over to-day was through a beautiful 
country, hilly and wooded, creeks winding round narrow valleys 
and others that beaver dams had converted into marshes, on 
which were growing great masses of natural hay, that there was 
no one to cut. The vegetation on the hill-sides was most luxu- 
riant. The grass reached to the horses' necks, and the vetches, 
which the horses snatched at greedily as they trotted past, were 
from four to six feet high. The last twelve miles of the day's 
journey resembled a pleasure drive; the first half amid tall woods 
through which the sunlight glimmered, with rich green under- 
brush of wild currant, mooseberry, and Indian pear, the ripe 
fruit of which we plucked from our saddles. Through these 
our road led down to the very brink of Lake St. Ann's, a beau- 
tiful sheet of water, stretching away before us for miles, enliven- 
ed with flocks of wild duck and pelican on the islets and promon- 
tories that fringed it ; and then round the south west-side of the 
lake, for the last six miles, to Mr. Adams' house. Mrs. Adams 
had a grand supper ready for us in half an hour, and we did full 
justice to the cream and butter, and the delicious white-fish of 
Lake St. Ann's. This fish (albus coregonus) is in size and shape 
and even taste very like the shad of the Bay of Fundy ; but 
very unlike it in the number and intricacy of its bones. It is an 
infinite toil to eat shad ; and with all possible care little prickly 
bones escape notice and insinuate themselves into the throat ; but 
with white-fish a man may abandon himself to the simple plea- 
sure of eating. Lake St. Ann's is the great storehouse of 
white-fish for supplying this part of the country. It provides 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 1 87 

for all demands up to Edmonton, Last year thirty thousand, 
averaging over three pounds each, were taken out and frozen for 
winter use. 

This was the worst place for summer frosts that we had yet 
seen. A field of potatoes belonging to the priest was cut down 
to the ground, and Mr. Adams pointed out barley that had been 
nipped two or three times, but from which he still expected half 
a crop. 

August 30th. — "Packing" the horses was the order of the day 
till two o'clock, and Brown and Beaupre showed themselves ex- 
perts at the work. A pack-saddle looks something like a minia- 
ture wooden "horse" such as we have all seen used in our back- 
yards for sawing sticks of cordwood. Wooden pads suited to the 
shape of the horse's back, with two or three plies of buffalo robe 
or blanket underneath, prevent the cross legs and packs from 
hurting the horse. All the baggage, blankets, provisions, and 
utensils are made up into portable bundles as nearly equal in size 
and weight as possible. Each of the packers seizing a bundle 
places it on the side of the saddle, another bundle is put on the 
top between the two, where the log of wood to be sawed would 
be placed, and then the triangular shaped load is bound in one 
by folds of shaganappi twisted firmly but without a knot, after 
a regular fashion called the " diamond hitch." 

The articles which experience had shown to be not indis- 
pensable or not required for the mountains, were now discarded, 
and other things of exactly the right sort obtained in their stead ; 
the object being to give as light loads as possible to the horses, 
that they might travel the faster. A horse with a hundred weight 
on his back can trot without racking himself : when he has from 
one hundred and sixty to two hundred pounds he can only walk, 
not only because of the weight but because the load catches in 
the bushes and between trees and rocks, and jars him constantly. 
If the horse is at all restive and breaks from the path, he crashes 



1 88 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

through dead wood and twists through dry till he destroys the 
load, or is brought up all standing by trees that there is no get- 
ting through. 

In the Mexican and United States Rocky Mountains, where a 
great deal of business has long been done with pack-horses, the 
saddles are of a much superior kind, called appara-hoes. With 
those the horses carry over three hundred pounds, and a day's 
journey is from twelve to fifteen miles. As our object was speed we 
dispensed with tent, extra clothing, tinned meat, books etc., and 
thus reduced the loads at the outset to a hundred or a hundred 
and thirty pounds per horse. That weight included food for 
thirty days for eight men, and everything else that was absolutely 
necessary. 

There was now before us a journey of about six hundred miles, 
through woods and marshes, torrents, and mountain passes ; 
for we could not depend on getting supplies of any kind or fresh 
horses on this side of Kamloops ; though there were probabilities 
of our meeting with parties of engineers between Jasper House 
and Yellow Head Pass. 

Mr. Adams was of infinite sendee in all these arrangements. 
The luxuries of white-fish, fresh eggs, cream, butter and young 
pig bountifully served up for us at his table, were duly appre- 
ciated at breakfast and dinner, but we valued still more highly 
the personal exertions, made as earnestly and with as much sim- 
plicity and thoughtfulness as if he had been preparing for his 
own journey. He was the last of the Hudson's Bay officers that 
we would be indebted to till we got to the Pacific slope, and 
parting from his post was like parting from the Company that 
has long been the mainstay of travellers, the only possible 
medium of communication, and the great representative of 
civilization in the vast regions of the North and North-west. 
From our meeting with the chief Commissioner at Silver Heights 
until our departure from St. Ann's we had experienced the hos- 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 1 89 

pitality of its agents, and had seen the same extended to all who 
claimed it, to the hungry Indian, and the unfortunate miner, 
as well as to those who bore letters of recommendation. It was 
on such a scale as befitted a great English corporation, the old 
monarchs and still the greatest power in the country. 

At two P. M. all was ready; eight horses packed, eight others 
saddled for riding, and a spare horse to follow. Mr. Adams 
accompanied us a short distance ; but, as the line of march had 
to be Indian file, we soon exchanged the undemonstrative 
" good-bye " with him, and plunged into the forest. For the first 
five miles the trail was so good that the horses kept at their 
accustomed jog-trot, though some of them were evidently unused 
to, and uneasy under their pack-saddles. Valad rode first, two 
pack-horses followed, Brown next, and so on till the Chief or 
some other of the party brought up the rear of the long line on 
the seventeenth horse. If any of the pack-horses deviated from 
the road into the bush, the man immediately behind had to 
bring him back. The loud calls to the obstinately lazy or 
straying "Rouge," "Brun," "Sangri," "Billy," " Bischo," varied 
with whacks almost as loud on their backs, were the only sounds 
that broke the stillness of the forest ; for conversation is im- 
possible with a man on horse-back in front of or behind you, 
and there is little game in these woods except an occasional 
partridge. After the first day, the horses gave little trouble as 
they all got accustomed to the style of travelling, and recognized 
the wisdom of keeping to the road. Two or three old hands at 
the work always aimed at getting one of their companions 
between them and a driver, so that their companions might re- 
ceive all the occasional whacks, and they share the benefit only 
of the loud calls and objurgations ; but the new ones soon got 
up to the trick, and their contentions for precedence and place 
were as keen as between a number of old dowagers before going 
in to dinner. These old hands carried their burdens with a 



190 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

swinging, waddling motion that eased their backs, and saved 
them many a rude jar. 

In the course of the afternoon we passed one or two deserted 
tents, and "sweating booths," but no Indians. Three miserable 
starved looking "Stonies" or Wood Indians had entered Mr. 
Adams' house while we were there, and, in accordance with 
invariable Indian etiquette, shook hands all round, before squat- 
ting on the kitchen floor and waiting for something to eat ; but, 
with the exception of the few scattered round each of the Com- 
pany's posts, who as a rule are invalids or idlers, we had not 
seen an Indian since leaving the Assiniboine, except the small 
camp near Moose-Creek and the Crees at Victoria. That they 
were buffalo hunting or that their principal settlements are off 
the line of the main road, does not give the whole truth. The 
Indians are evidently decreasing ; " dying out " before the white 
man. Now that the Hudson's Bay monopoly is gone, "free 
traders," chiefly from the south, are coming in, plentifully 
supplied with a poisonous stuff, rum in name, but in reality a 
compound of tobacco, vitriol, bluestone and water. This is com- 
pleting the work that scrofula and epidemics and the causes that 
bring about scrofula and epidemics were already doing too* 
surely : for an Indian will part with horse and gun, blanket and 
wife for rum. There is law in abundance forbidding the sale of 
intoxicating liquor to Indians, but law, without force to execute 
law, is laughed at by rowdies from Belly River and elsewhere. 

The "sweating booths" referred to should have been explained^ 
before. They are the great Indian natural luxury, and are to 
be found all along the road, or wherever Indians live even for a 
week. There was scarcely a day this month' that we did not 
pass the rude slight frames. At first we mistook them for small 
tents. They are made in a few minutes of willow wands or 
branches, bent so as to form a circular enclosure, with room for 
one or two inside ; the buffalo robe is spread over the frame 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 191 

work so as to exclude the air as much as possible, and who- 
ever wants a Russian bath crawls into the round dark hole. A 
friend outside then heats some large stones to the highest point 
attainable, and passes them and a bucket of water in. The 
" insides " pour the water on the stones, steam is generated, and, 
on they go pouring water and enjoying the delight of a vapor 
bath, till they are almost insensible. Doctor Hector thought the 
practice an excellent one, as regards cleanliness, health and plea- 
sure ; but the Indians carry it to an extreme that utterly enervates 
them. Their medicine-men enlist it in aid of their superstitions. 
It is when under the influence of the bath, that they become 
inspired ; and they take one or two laymen in with them, that 
they may hear their oracular sayings, and be able to announce 
to the tribe where there is a chance of stealing horses or of 
doing some other notable deed with good prospect of success. 
It is easy to see, too, what a capital opportunity the medicine- 
man has, when, thus inspired to gratify his private malice or ven- 
geance, or any desire. Many a raid and many a deed of dark- 
ness has been started in the sweating booth. 

The first five miles of the road, this afternoon, was a broad 
easy trail, through open woods which showed fine timber of 
spruce, aspen, and poplar, some of the spruce being over two 
feet in diameter ; but had we formed from it any conclusion as 
to our probable rate of speed, the next four miles would have 
undeceived us. Crashing through windfalls or steering amid 
thick wooua round them, leading our horses across yielding 
morasses or stumbling over roots, and into holes, with all our 
freshness we scarcely made two miles an hour, and that with an 
expenditure of wind and limb that would soon have exhausted 
horse and man. But the road again improved a little, and by 
6.30 P.M., we had accomplished about twelve miles, and reached 
a lake called " Chain of lakes " or " Lac des lies," out of which 
the Sturgeon river flows before it runs into Lake St. Ann's. In 



192 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

an open ground near the lake, covered thick with vetches, a 
simple 'lean to' or screen for the whole company was constructed. 
In the morning all decided that the ' lean to ' was a preferable 
home to the round or closed tents we had hitherto used. You 
require for the former only a large cotton sheet in addition to 
what the forest supplies at any time. Two pairs of cross-poles 
are stuck in the ground, as far apart as you wish your lodging 
place for the night co be long ; a ridge pole connects these, and 
then half-a-dozen 01 more poles are placed slanting against the 
ridge pole. Cover the sloping frame with your cotton sheet, or 
in its absence, birch bark, and your house is made. The ends 
are open and so is the front, but the back is covered, and that, 
of course, is where the wind comes from. The ventilation is 
perfect, and as your fire is made immediately in front, there is 
no lack of warmth. 

From this date the whole party had one tent of this descrip- 
tion to sleep under, and one table to eat from. The days were 
getting shorter, the horses could not go fast, and time therefore 
had to be economised in every possible way. 

August 31st. — As packing eight horses takes twice as long as 
harnessing twice the number, it was 6.30 P.M., before we started. 
Hereafter, and for the same reason — the time needed to unpack 
and pack, — only one halt and two " spells " per day were to be 
made. 

Six hours' continual travel at an average rate of three miles an 
hour, brought us to the Pembina river, where we halted for two- 
and-a-half hours. The road was through thick woods and along 
the "Chain of lakes," with an upward incline until we came to 
the watershed between the Saskatchewan and the rivers running 
north-east which fall into the McKenzie, and through it into the 
Arctic sea. The country then opened, and we could see before 
us four or five miles to a ridge, on the other side of which the 
guide said was the Pembina. The timber in the morning was 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASKA RIVER. 193 

not as large as that nearer St. Ann's ; and it became smaller as 
we advanced, till in the open it was poor and scrubby, and the 
land here and all over the drive to the Pembina looked cold 
and hungry, with occasional good spots. In the neighbourhood 
of coal the land is usually poor, and we had been told that the 
banks of the rivers showed abundant indication of coal for sixty 
miles up and down from where the trail struck it. After passing 
the " Chain of lakes " the road led along a small round lake that 
empties on the other side ; and, soon after, over a ridge from 
which a fine amphitheatre of hills, formed by a bend of the river 
beneath, opened out before us, in the valley of which we saw the 
broad shallow Pembina flowing away to the north. The under- 
brush on the hill-sides had decided autumn tints, the red and 
yellow showing early frosts, although there would be nearly three 
months yet before winter. The top of the opposite bank was a 
bold face of sandstone, with what looked like enormous clusters 
of swallow's nests running along the upper part ; underneath the 
sandstone, clay that had been burnt by the spontaneous com- 
bustion of the coal beneath, ash and burnt pieces of shale like 
red and white pottery on the surface, half hidden by vegetation ; 
and down at the water's edge a horizontal bed of coal. We 
forded the river which is about a hundred yards wide, and look- 
ing back saw on the east side a seam of coal about ten feet thick, 
whereas on the west side to which we had crossed only about 
four feet showed above the water. Pick in hand the Chief made 
for the coal, and finding a large square lump that had been 
carried down by the river, he broke some pieces from it to make 
a fire. In appearance it was much superior to the Edmonton 
seam ; instead of the dull half-burnt look, it had a clean glassy 
fracture like cannel coal. Carrying a number of pieces in our 
hands we proceeded to make a fire and had the satisfaction of 
seeing them burn, and of cooking our pemmican with the 

mineral fuel. It was evidently coal, equal for fuel, we considered, 
M 



194 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

to the inferior Cape Breton kinds, burning sluggishly, and 
leaving a considerable quantity of grey and reddish ash, but 
giving out a good heat. Beaupre, who all this while had been 
washing sand from the river in his shovel for gold, and finding 
at the rate of half a cent's worth per shovel full, was amazed at 
our eagerness, or that there should have been any doubt about 
its being coal. He and his mates when mining on different 
rivers, had been in the habit of making fires with it whenever 
they wished the fire to remain in all night ; and he and Brown 
both said, that the exposure of coal on Pembina was a mere 
nothing compared to that on the Brazeau or North Fork of the 
North Saskatchewan ; that there were seams eighteen feet thick 
there ; that in one canyon was a wall of seam on seam as perpen- 
dicular as if it had been plumbed, and so hard that the weather 
had no effect on it ; and that on all the rivers, for some distance 
east of Edmonton, and west to the Rocky Mountains, are 
abundant showings of coal. This is perhaps the proper place to 
mention that on our return -to the east, Ex-Governor Archibald 
presented the Secretary with a little box full that had been 
sent him as a sample from Edmonton ; the sample was exactly 
like what we picked up in the Pembina and tried with the results 
just stated. 

The Secretary submitted it to Professor Lawson of Dalhousie 
College, Halifax, for analysis, and received a letter of which the 
following is an extract, and may be regarded as settling the 
question more favourably than we could even have hoped for : 

" My analysis of your coal is by no means discouraging : — 

Combustible matter --- 97.835 p. c. 

Inorganic Ash ------------- 2.165 p. c. 



Total 100.000 

" The proportion of sulphur, chlorine, and other obnoxious impurities, 
w is quite small. The coal burns with a flame, and also forms a red cinder, 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASKA RIVER. 195 

u but is a slow burner ; and, although the absolute amount of ash is so 
" small, yet a much larger amount of apparent ash will be left in the grate 
" from imperfect combustion. Yet, if we view this as a surface sample — 
" and such are invariably of inferior quality, — I think it offers great en- 
" couragement, for the percentage of ash is less than the average of the 
•' best marketable coals in Britain. Of course this analysis of a very small 
" sample can only be regarded as a probable indication, not a demonstra- 
" tion, of the nature of the extensive beds of coal or bituminous shale 
« described in your letter." 

The simple fact is that the coal deposits of the North-west are 
so enormous in quantity that people were unwilling to believe 
that the quality could be good. 

Here then is fuel for the future inhabitants of the plains, 
near water communication for forwarding it in different direc- 
tions. 

Captain Palliser also reports the existence of iron ore near 
several coal seams. 

After dinner we rode on for three and a half hours to a good 
camping ground on the Lobstick river, about eleven miles from 
the Pembina ; and had the horses watered and everything made 
snug for Sunday before sunset. 

On the way several creeks had to be crossed, or valleys where 
creeks had run till beavers dammed them up, and, as all had 
high steep banks, the work was heavy on the horses. But the 
road so far had agreeably disappointed us. It was not at all so 
bad as travellers' tales had represented. True, it is better at this 
season of the year and for the next six weeks, than at any time 
except in the winter ; but we felt confident that in another week 
Jasper House would not be far off, unless the roads became 
very much worse, instead of fifteen days being required as every 
one at Edmonton and St. Ann's had said. So, after a talk with 
Brown and Beaupre about their mining and Blackfeet expe- 
riences, we threw ourselves down on a fragrant grassy bed, a 



19^ OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

little tired, but in good spirits and glad enough that we were not 
to be called early in the morning. 

September 1st. — When we looked out at our wide open door, 
between six and seven o'clock, a good fire was blazing, and by it 
sat Valad smoking. He might have been sitting there for cen- 
turies, so perfect was the repose of form and feature. 

Brown enquired if he had seen the horses and the answer was 
a wave of the hand, first in one direction and then in another, 
not only enough to say that he had, but also where they were, 
without disturbing any of us who might be asleep. 

He looked more like a dignified Italian gentleman than an 
obscure Indian guide. With the lazy movements peculiar to 
Sunday morning in a camp, one after another of his bed-fellows 
shook himself out of his blanket. We had now time to look 
around, and see what kind of a place we were camping on. A 
bluff had stopped the course of the stream on its way east, and 
made it swing round to the south. On the bluff, just at the 
elbow, our tent was pitched. A rich grassy intervale along the 
river, and vetches in a little valley on the other side of our camp, 
gave good feed for the horses. On the opposite bank of the 
stream, and a little ahead, stood three "lobstick" spruce trees in 
a clump. From these probably the stream gets its name. A 
lobstick is the Indian or half-breed monument to a friend or to 
a man he delights to honour. Selecting a tall spruce or some 
other conspicuous tree, he cuts off all the middle branches 
leaving the head and feet of the tree clothed and the body naked, 
and then writes your name or initials at the root. That is your 
lobstick and you are expected to feel highly flattered, and to 
make a handsome present in return to the noble fellow or fellows 
who have erected such a pillar in your honour. 

There is an old superstition that your health and length of 
days will correspond to your lobstick's- As this belief proved 
inconvenient in some cases it has been quietly dropped, but 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 1 97 

the custom still flourishes and is greatly favoured by the 
half-breeds. 

Whether such a simple way of getting up a monument is not 
preferable to piling brick upon brick to the height of a tree, to 
show how highly you honour a hero, is a question that might 
bear discussion. 

At morning service the whole party attended. We did not 
ask any of the men "what denomination he was of," but took it 
for granted that he could join in common prayer, and hear with 
profit the simplest truths of Christianity. With none of our 
former crews had we been on such friendly terms as with 
this one. All the men were up to their work, prompt and res- 
pectful, but the relation seemed more like that of a family than 
simply master and servant. 

The weather was beautiful as usual. Last night it clouded 
up and in the early morning there was a light drizzle of rain, but 
not enough to wet the grass as much if there had been the ordin- 
ary heavy dew of a clear night. The forenoon was cool enough 
to keep the black flies away, but they came out with the sun 
and the mosquitoes in the afternoon. At sunset the black flies 
vanish, but the mosquitoes keep buzzing round till the night is 
sufficiently cold to drive them off to the woods ; this usually 
happens about nine o'clock. Warm as the days now were the 
nights were so cold, though there was no actual frost, that we usual- 
ly kept our clothes on, in addition to the double blanket. Our 
bag or boots served for pillow, and none of us were ever troubled 
with wakefulness, or complained in the morning that there had 
been a crumpled rose leaf under blanket or pillow. 

There was little to mark this Sunday except the pleasant 
peaceful enjoyment of it. The murmuring of the river over its 
pebbly bed was the only sound that broke the Sabbath still- 
ness. The rest was peculiarly grateful after the week's hurry 
and changes ; and the horses looked as well pleased with it as 



198 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

we. They ate till they could eat no more : and then they affec- 
tionately switched or licked the flies off one another, or strolled 
up to the camp to get into the smoke of the fire. Had they 
been able to speak, they would certainly have given thanks for 
the institution of a day of rest for beast as well as man. 

We had one source of annoyance however. Two stray dogs 
had joined our party uninvited, a brown one at Edmonton, and 
a black at St. Ann's. They had been hooted, pelted and driven 
back, but after going on a mile or two further we would see them 
slinking after us again. Pemmican could not be spared, as we 
bought sufficient for our own wants only, and to-day they looked 
particularly hungry. What was to be done with them? Go back 
they would not. To take them to Kamloops was out of the 
question. To let them die of starvation would be inhuman. There 
seemed nothing for it but to shoot or drown them, and though 
each and all of us promptly declined the part of executioner, 
their prospects looked so gloomy that Frank, who had pleaded 
for them all along, resolved to try and provide for them outside 
of our regular supplies. Getting permission to do what he could, 
on the plea that it was both necessity and mercy, he rigged a 
fishing line, and persuaded Brown and Valad to take a gun and 
try for beaver or duck. While all three were away, the brown 
was caught in the act of stealing pemmican. This aggravated 
their case, but, though all condemned, none would shoot. The 
hunters too came back empty handed, except with a pan-full of 
cranberries that Brown had picked, and that he stewed in a few 
minutes into a delicious jam. The dogs puzzled us, so we 
postponed further consideration of the problem till next day. 

Instead of the usual three meals of pemmican, bread and tea, 
we had only two to-day, and a simple lunch at one o'clock. At 
six, dinner was served with all the delicacies we could muster, 
Berry-pemmican, pork and cranberry jam made a feast so 
delicious that no one thought of the dogs. 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 199 

September 2nd. — Up at four and away at half-past five, or 
twenty minutes after sunrise. Another bright and sunny day, 
though the woods were so thick in some places that, at one 
o'clock the dew was still on the grass. 

Our first spell was six hours long. We crossed the Lobstick 
a little above our camp, and followed up its course without once 
seeing it again, to Chip Lake, from which it flows. The road 
ran through a fertile undulating country at first, then through 
inferior land which forest fires had desolated. There were few 
flowers or berries and no large trees. The dogs roused a great 
many partridges, but no one felt disposed to follow them into 
the bush. Brown shot a fine fat one from the saddle with his 
revolver and divided it between the dogs, so that they had a 
meal and therefore a respite for another day. 

Our progress was so slow, averaging only two miles an hour, 
that we were all dreadfully tired. The trail was not bad in 
itself, with the exception of a few small morasses, some of black 
muck, and others of a tenacious clay, but at every four or five 
yards a tree, or two or three branches were lying across, as firmly 
set by having been trodden on as if placed in position, and they 
prevented the horses from getting into a trot These obstacles 
were not recent windfalls. They had evidently been there for 
years, and an expenditure of five or ten dollars a mile would clear 
most of them away. But the H. B. Company could hardly be 
expected to make a road for free-traders to Jasper House, and 
it is everybody's business, not a hand is put to the work. Our 
dining place was at a small creek that runs into Chip Lake, a 
lake half as big as St. Ann's, that the thick woods prevented 
our seeing. The ground was plentifully covered with creepers 
that yielded blueberries smaller and more pungent than those in 
the Eastern Provinces. 

A little after two P.M., we crossed the creek, and wound up the 
opposite hill-side into a broken well-wooded country, the hollows 



200 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

in which were furrowed with beaver dams. After an hour of 
this we reached a hill-top, from which a great extent of thickly- 
wooded country opened out, first level and then with an undu- 
lating upward slope to the watershed of the McLeod. The 
horizon far beyond this slope in a due westernly direction was 
bounded by dim mountains, that we hailed with a shout as the 
long sought Rocky Monntains, but Beaupre checked the cheer 
by calling back that they were only the "foot hills" between the 
McLeod and the Athabasca. At any rate they were the out- 
liers of the Rocky Mountains, and in exactly a month from our 
saying goodbye to Governor Archibald at Silver Heights we had 
our first glimpse of them. 

The road now descended to lower ground, and passed over the 
beds of old creeks destroyed by beavers. Had it not been for 
half-decayed logs lying across the path, the horses could have 
trotted the whole way. As , it was, they made fully four miles 
an hour, in the afternoon spell of three -and-a-quarter hours. 
Before five o'clock we came to a beautiful, clear, cold stream and 
Valad advised camping, but the Chief, learning that there was 
a suitable place with good water and feed four miles farther on, 
gave the word to continue the march. This ground like much 
that we had gone over in the morning, consisted either of old 
willows and alders, dry marsh, or sandy and gravelly ridges 
covered with scrub pine. It was part of the level region we had 
seen from the hill-top, and had a decidedly poverty-stricken look. 
In an hour we had reached the camping place and prepared our 
lodging for the night, well pleased with the progress that had been 
made during the day. The spare horse, however, which as usual 
had been left to himself to follow in his own way, was missing. 
Terry, who had brought up the rear, had seen him lounging and 
looking back when within a mile of the camp. Beaupre at once 
started in pursuit bridle in hand, but returned at dusk without 
him. He had seen him near the creek we had crossed at five 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 201 

o'clock, evidently on his way home or in a state of bewilderment, 
not knowing where he was going. Beaupre had tried to drive 
him into camp, but he plunged into the woods and refused to 
be driven back; so Beaupre, afraid of losing the trail in the dark- 
ness, returned. As the horse could not well be spared, Valad 
was asked to go after him early next morning, try his luck and 
catch up to us before dark, while we went on under the guidance 
of Beaupre for the day. 

The evenings were getting long now and, after our slow and 
tedious journeying, it was pleasant to sit in the open tent before 
a great pine fire and talk about the work of the day, the pros- 
pects of to-morrow, and hear some story of wild western life 
from the men. Brown gave us the particulars of the horrible 
massacre of the Peigan Indians by Colonel Baker, the kindly 
views of it taken by the Montana citizens, and their memorial to 
Washington in his favour when he was threatened with court- 
martial. Brown and Beaupre themselves judged the massacre 
from a miner's stand point. 

But none of their stories of lawless and cruel deeds roused in 
us such indignation as what they told concerning villanies done 
recently in our own North-west. Perhaps the worst had hap- 
pened only three weeks before our arrival at Edmonton, within 
one hundred yards of the Fort. A young Metis of eighteen 
summers, son of a well known hunter called Kiskowassis (or "day 
child," born in the day) had murdered his wife, to whom he had 
been married only a few months and who was enceinte. Last 
year he had slashed a woman with his knife in the wrist and 
made her a cripple for life. That was a small affair. But, having 
gone to the plains and formed an intimacy with another girl, he 
wanted to get rid of his wife. Luring her down to the river side, 
so that suspicion might fall on a party of Blackfeet camped on 
the other side, he stabbed but only wounded her, and she fled up 
the hill, he chasing and striking at her. Some 01 the Blackfeet 



202 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

on the opposite bank cried manoyo, manoyo, (murder;, but there 
was no one near to help the poor creature, and soon a surer blow- 
stretched her dead. This was too serious to be altogether passed 
over, so her brothers promptly called on Kiskowassis about 
it. Charley — the murderer — was not at home, but Kiskowassis 
acknowledged that he had gone too far, and proffered two horses 
that he extolled highly, the one as " a hunter " and the other as 
"a carter," in atonement. The elder brother went out and 
came back in a few minutes, saying : " They're pretty good 
horses, I guess we'd better take them." And thus the affair was 
amicably settled ; and, at the same price, as far as law on the 
Saskatchewan is concerned, Charley may go on and have his six 
wives more easily than Henry the eighth. An uncle of Charley, 
on the plains two months ago, shot a man who had offended 
him ; and Beaupre extolled the whole family as " very brave." 
Charley had tried to enlist Beaupre last year in a promising 
enterprise of killing some Sursees who owned good horses : but 
Beaupre was not " brave " enough. There is a young brother, 
aged fourteen, who Beaupre says is sure to beat even Charley : 
" he is bound to steal a horse this very summer from the Black- 
feet." 

We asked Brown why at any rate the miners did not lynch 
Charley, since no one else acted. He said that there was such 
a proposal, but it was decided that as they were strangers 
enjoying the "protection" of the country, it would not be seemly 
for them to interfere. 

September 3rd. — Awoke at four A.M., and found the fire 
burning brightly and Valad away in pursuit of the missing horse. 
Partly owing to his absence the start was an hour later than 
yesterday's. Leaving his saddle and some bread and pemmican 
on a tree we moved on. The trail was a continuation of the 
willow and alder marsh of last evening, but instead of being dry 
it was swampy, and the travelling heavy. The brown dog caught a 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 203 

musk-rat that made a meal for the two, and gave them another 
day's respite. 

For the first eight or ten miles the road was almost wholly 
swamp, till a creek was crossed that runs into Chip or Buffalo 
Lake, and from it by the Lobstick into the Pembina. The water- 
shed of the McLeod then rose in a long broken richly-clothed 
slope. In five hours from camp, at an average rate of three 
miles an hour, Root River that runs into the McLeod was 
reached. The trail, which at no time was better than a bridle 
path, was so heavily encumbered in places with fallen timber 
that no trace of it could be seen. A rough path had to be broken 
round the obstacle, and sometimes Beaupre had difficulty in 
finding the trail again. Indian pears and moose-berries — the 
largest we had seen — grew along the hill-side, in such quantities 
that you could often fill your hand by leaning from the saddle, 
as the horse brushed past the bushes. We halted two hours and 
a half at Root River, and, as there was a birth-day at home, 
slap-jacks, mixed with berry pemmican were made as a sub- 
stitute for plumpudding, and, at dinner, the Chief produced a 
pint bottle of Noyeau, which had been stored for some great 
occasion, and Minnie's health was drunk in three table-spoonfulls 
a piece. Just as dinner was over, Valad made his appearance. 
He had had a hard day of it following the track of the horse, but 
came up to him at our yesterday's dining place, moving quietly 
home-wards. Three times he turned him, but the horse always 
got away by dashing into the brush. Valad then went ahead 
and set a wooden trap on the road, but the horse avoided it, and 
Valad gave up the chase. On his way back — he found that the 
squirrels had eaten his breakfast. Shouldering his saddle, he 
followed our trail, and rejoined us at two P.M., having walked 
forty-one miles and eaten nothing. His moccasins had been cut 
with the stumps and thorns ; but, though footsore in consequence, 
he made light of it and went to work with his usual promptness. 



204 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

Beaupre had been looking for half an hour, but quite in vain, 
among the long grass and shrubs, for a bit that had dropped off 
one of the bridles. "We're all right now" was his judicious 
remark, when Valad appeared, " the old man will smell it if he 
can't see it." 

Our afternoon spell was heavy work ; crossing a branch of the 
Root River, we came on a barren swamp, burned over so 
thoroughly that there was not a trace of water nor of the trail 
for two miles ; the once heavily-timbered slopes all round had 
been devastated. On our right a forest of bare poles, looking in 
the distance like a white cloud, clung to the hill-side. Dead logs, 
poles, branches, strewed the ground so abundantly that the horses 
could pick their steps but slowly. After the barren, came the 
last ascent, and so gradual was it that we did not know when we 
were at the top, and then instead of a rapid descent to the 
McLeod, stiff marsh succeeded that got stiffer every mile. The 
sun set before we got through half of the marsh, but at one spot, 
a dry ridge intervening with good water near, Valad advised 
camping. In answer to our question, ' how far off is the McLeod 
still ?' he pointed to the sky saying * the sun will be over more 
than half of that again before we see it.' This settled the ques- 
tion, though in a disappointing way, as it put an end to the hope 
of getting to Jasper's this week. Three of the horses, too, w re a 
little lame, and things did not look quite as bright as when we 
started in the morning. 

September 4th. — The three lame horses were looked at 
immediately after breakfast. The cause of lameness in all three 
cases was, that sharp strong stobs or splinters had run into or 
just above their unshod hoofs ; we half wondered that some of 
them had not pulled their hoofs off, in struggling to extricate 
them from tough and sharp fibrous roots. The splinters were 
easily extracted from two, and, the third horse, allowing no one 
near his hind leg, was managed dexterously by Valad. Passing 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 205 

one end of his shaganappi lasso twice round his neck, he made 
two turns of the other end round his body, and gradually slipped 
those turns down over his hind legs, and tightened them. 
Tightening the rope at his neck now, the horse resisted, but his 
legs being tied, his own struggles with a little shove threw him, 
and when thrown he lay quiet as a lamb. 

It had rained during the night, and the morning was cloudy 
and threatening. At 9 A.M., the rain came on again, after we 
had been two hours on the road, if the expression is allowable 
when there was no road. The rain made travelling across the 
muskeg still more difficult and uncomfortable. In six hours and 
a quarter we fought through ten miles, six or seven of them 
being simply over a continuous muskeg covered with wind- 
falls. The horses stumbled over roots and timber to sink into 
thick layers of quaking moss, and sometimes through these to 
the springs underneath. The greater part of the ground bore 
tall beautifully shaped spruce and poplar, chiefly spruce, from 
one to three feet in diameter. 

After crossing a little creek, the trail improved somewhat till 
it led to the ancient bank of the McLeod, at the foot of which 
yawned a deep pool with a bottom of tenacious clay, that had to 
be struggled through somehow. The horses sinking almost to 
their bellies, floundered in the mud at a fearful rate, with such 
effects on our clothes as may be conceived ; fortunately by this 
time we were quite indifferent on the subject of appearances. 
The river was only a hundred yards from this, but the trail led 
for half a mile up through a wooded intervale to " the crossing." 
A little creek seamed the intervale, and the first open spot was 
strewed with as many chips as would furnish a carpenters shop„ 
beside several logs, two of them stripped of their bark and 
others cut into junks for transportation. We had disturbed a 
colony of beavers, in their work of building a dam across the 
creek and of laying in their winter supplies. 



206 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

The sight of the McLeod was a relief, for we had found the 
way to it " a hard road to travel," as the Canadians who pre- 
ceeded Milton and Cheadle evidently had also. The Chief came 
upon their testimony chalked with red keil on a large spruce tree 
in the swamp, five or six miles to the east of the river. Only the 
following words and half-words could be made out : — 

August 10th, 1862, •*••**»•**••••»• 



East Tilbury •••••**•• 
• ••••• an< i ••••*• 

******** Robert Campb 



for Cariboo • •••••••• 

»*•«** a hard roa( j to travel. 



Poor fellows ! some of them found the North Thompson a harder 
road. 

The McLeoti heads inside of the first range of the Rocky 
Mountains. Where we crossed, it is a beautiful stream about 1 10 
yaids wide, running north-easterly with a rapid current over a 
pebbly bei. Its breadth is not much greater than the Pembina, 
but it has three times the volume of water. At this season of the 
year, it can be forded at almost any point where there is a little 
rapid, the water in such places, not coming up to the horses' 
necks. Crossing, we came upon a few acres of prairie, to the rich 
vetches on which the horses abandoned themselves as eagerly as 
our party did to the richaud and tea that Terry hurried up. For- 
tunately too, the rain ceased, though the sky did not clear, and 
Valad made a big fire at which we dried ourselves partially. 
Brown advised that, as this was a good place, some provisions 
should be cached for those of the party who were to return from 
Jasper's ; and Valad, selecting a site in the green wood, he and 
Beaupre went off to it from the opposite direction, with about 
twenty-five pounds of pemmican and flour tied up, first in can- 
vass and then in oil-skin, as the wolverine — most dreaded plun- 
derer of caches — dislikes the smell of oil. Selecting two suitable 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 20/ 

pine trees in the thick wood, they "skinned" (barked) them to 
prevent animals from climbing; then placing a pole between the 
two, some eighteen feet from the ground, they hung a " St. 
Andrew's Cross" of two small sticks from the pole, and suspend- 
ed their bag from the end of one, that the least movement or 
even puff of wind would set it swinging. Such a cache Valad 
guaranteed against bird and beast of whatever kind. " And now,"" 
Beaupre summed up, "if no one finds that, we will be in good 
luck ; but if somebody finds it, we will be in bad luck ; that's all." 

Our course from this point was to be up the McLeod for near- 
ly seventy miles of very bad road. As we had had enough of 
that for one day, we listened eagerly to Beaupre saying that it 
was possible to dodge the first eight miles by creeping along the 
shore of the river, and crossing and recrossing wherever the 
banks came down too close to permit travelling. Though Valad 
didn't know this way and Beaupre himself had not tried the 
crossings, having on a former occasion made the trip up the river 
in a canoe, and not by the shore, it was decided to try. A very 
pleasant change on the forenoon's journey it proved to be, and 
quite a success ; for we arrived at the proposed camping ground, 
after four crossings, before sunset. The river was low and the 
shore wide, consisting of rough pebbly stretches or sand bars, 
covered, near the bank, with wild onions, sand grasses, and 
creepers. Beaupre said that the sand would yield gold at the 
rate, of a cent a shovelful, but that would give only $2 or $3 per 
day. Where the banks came near the river in bold bluffs, they 
showed sections chiefly of different kinds of clay and sandstone 
separated by black slate. No coal beds appeared except a four- 
inch seam that looked like coal, but may have been only a roof 
of shale to the coal beneath. 

At the camp a roaring fire of pine logs was soon kindled, and 
ajline hung along one side for our wet clothes; but the steady 
drizzling rain recommenced and continued all night. We warm^ 



208 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

«d ourselves at any rate, and ' turned in' as comfortably as the 
circumstances permitted. 

September 5th. — It rained steadily through the night and was 
drizzling in the morning. Though it hurts the horses' backs to 
saddle them when wet, there was no alternative, and so after 
getting ready with great deliberation, in hopes that it would clear 
up, we moved away at 7.30 A.M. 

Our first "spell" was the hardest work of the journey, so far, 
with the least to show for it. We made about five miles, and it 
took as many hours to make the distance. The road followed 
the upward course of the McLeod, crossing the necks of land 
formed by the doublings of the river. These so-called, 'portages' 
were the worst part of the road, though it was all so bad that it 
is invidious to make comparisons. The country was either bog 
or barren — both bad, — for the whole had recently been burned 
over, and every wind had blown down its share of the burnt 
trees. There was no regular trail. Each successive party 
that travelled this way, seemed to have tried to make a new one 
in vain efforts to escape the difficulties. Valad went ahead, axe 
in hand, and between natural selection and a judicious use of 
the axe, made a passage; but it looked so tangled and beset, that 
the horses often thought they could do better ; off they would 
go, with a swing, among the bare poles, for about two yards 
before their packs got interlaced with the tough spruce. Then 
came the tug; if the trees would not give, the packs had to, and 
there was a delay of half an hour to tie them on again. We often 
wondered that the packs came off so seldom ; but Brown under- 
stood his business; besides the trees had been burnt, and some of 
them were uprooted or broken with comparative ease. Of course 
the recent rains had not improved the going. Beaupre said that it 
had not been worse last summer, after the spring frosts had come 
out and the spring rains gone in. Take it all in all, the road was 
hopelessly bad, — deserving all the hard things that had been 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 209 

said of it, — and called for a large stock of the Mark Tapley 
spirit, especially when, by wandering from the trail, the horses 
got mired in muskegs or stuck between trees, or when the 
blackened, hard, tough spruce branches, bent forward by a pack 
horse, swung back viciously in the face of the unfortunate driver. 

The road could only have been worse by the trees being 
larger ; but then it would have been simply impassable, for the 
windfalls would have barricaded it completely. The prospect, too, 
was dismal and desolate looking enough for Avernus or the 
richest coal fields : nothing but a forest, apparently endless, 
of blackened poles on all sides. Only when an angle or bend of 
the river came into view, was there any relief for the eye. 

Towards midday, when every one's thoughts were on pemmi- 
can, 'ho/ 'ho/ was heard ahead, and two Indians appeared 
holding out hands to Valad. They had left Jasper's four days 
ago, and were bound for Edmonton, trusting to their guns or the 
berries to supply them with food on the way. The offer of a 
pemmican dinner turned them back with us for quarter of a mile, 
to a little creek where the halt had to be called, though there 
was but poor feed for the horses among the blackened trees. 
The Indians had no dog, and were glad to take the black — as 
he would be useful in treeing partridges — back to Mr. Adam's, to 
whom the Doctor thought he belonged. They promised also to 
drive home the spare horse if they could track him. We wrote a 
note by them to Mr. Adams, telling him what commissions we had 
entrusted them with. These Indians had straighter features and 
a manlier cast of countenance than the ordinary wood-Indians. 
On inquiry, we learned that they were Iroquois from Smoking 
River, to the north of Jasper's, where a small colony has been 
settled for fifty years back. Their ancesters had been in the 
employment of the North-west Fur Company, and on its amal- 
gamation with the Hudson's Bay, had settled on Smoking River, 

on account of the abundance of fur-bearing animals and of large 

N 



210 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

game such as buffalo, elk, brown and grizzly bears, then in that 
quarter. 

After dinner, the march was resumed at the mile per hour rate. 
More discouraging was the fact that scarcely two-thirds of that 
modest speed was progress ; for the trail twisted like a ship 
tacking, so that at times we were actually progressing backwards. 
In struggling across creeks the difference between the Lowland 
Scot and the Frenchman came out amusingly. Brown continued 
imperturbable no matter how the horses went. Beaupre, the 
mildest mannered man living when things went smoothly, could 
not stand the sight of a horse floundering in the mud. Down 
into the gully he would rush to lift him out by the tail. Of 
course he got spattered and perhaps kicked for his pains. This 
made him worse, and he had to let out his excitement on the 
horse. Gripping the tail with his left hand, as the brute struggled 
up the opposite hill swaying him from side to side as if he had 
been tied to it, he whipped with hi« r ight ; sacr/-ing furiously, 
till he reached the top. Then feeling tba. he had done his part, 
he would let go and subside again into his mildest manners. 

Towards evening the road improved so that the luxury of a 
smart walk was indulged in— with occasional breaks — for an 
hour or two. When we camped, the tally for the day was twelve 
miles, representing perhaps an air line of six or eight, for ten 
hours, hard work. A bath in the McLeod, and a change of socks 
followed by supper, put us all right, although the hope of seeing 
Jasper's before next Wednesday had completely vanished. 

September 6th. — It rained last night, but the morning gave 
signs of a fair day. Renewed the march at 6.45 A.M. Yesterday's 
experiences were also renewed, except that the road, as well as the 
day, was better — enabling us to make two miles an hour, — and 
kept closer to the river, revealing many a beautiful bend or long 
reach. The timber was larger and less of it burnt. Poplar, 
cottonwood, and spruce, chiefly the latter, predominated. The 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 211 

opposite bank had escaped fires. Before noon, we got a glimpse 
of the mountains away to the south, and soon after reached a 
lovely bit of open prairie covered with vetches, honey-suckle, and 
rose-bushes out of flower. Here, the McLeod sweeps away to 
the south and then back to the north, and the trail instead of 
following its long circuit cuts across the loop. This 'portage' is 
twenty miles long, and a muskeg in the middle — on one or the 
other side of which we would have to camp to-night — is the 
worst on the road to Jasper's. Halted for dinner at the bend of 
the river, having travelled nine or ten miles, Frank promising us 
some fish, from a trouty looking stream hard by, as a change 
from the everlasting pemmican. Not that any one was tired of 
pemmican. All joined in its praises as the right food for a 
journey, and wondered why the Government had never used it 
in war time. It must be equal or superior to the famous Prussian 
sausage, judging of the latter, as we needs must, without having 
lived on it for a month. As an army ' marches on its stomach 
condensed food is an important object for the commissariat to 
consider, especially when as in the case of the British Army* 
long expeditions are frequently necessary. Pemmican is good 
and palatable uncooked and cooked, though most prefer it in 
the richaud form. It has numerous other recommendations for 
campaign diet. It keeps sound for twenty or thirty years, is 
wholesome and strengthening, portable, and needs no medicine to 
correct a tri-daily use of it. Two pounds weight with bread and 
tea, we found enough for the dinner of eight hungry men. 
A bag weighing a hundred pounds is only the size of an ordinary 
pillow, two feet long, one and a half wide, and six inches thick. 
Such a bag then would supply three good meals to a hundred 
and thirty men. Could the same be said of equal bulk of pork ? 
But as Terry — an old soldier too — indignantly remarked " the 
British Gauvirmint wont drame of pimmican till the Prooshians 
find it out." 



212 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

Frank came back to dinner with one small trout, though 
Beaupre said that he and his mate last summer had caught an 
hundred in two hours, some of them ten pounds in weight. Per- 
force we dined on pemmican and liked it better than ever. 

The sun now shone out, making the day warm and pleasant, 
as all September usually is in America. At 2 P. M. got into 
line again to cross the long portage. The course was westerly, 
by the banks of the stream called the Medicine, at the mouth of 
which we had dined. A great part of the road was comparatively 
free from fallen timber, so that we enjoyed the novelty of a trot, 
and, except near two creeks that ran into the Medicine, — free 
from the still worse obstruction of muskegs. An hour before 
sunset, the Medicine itself had to be crossed, and on the other 
side of it was the bad muskeg. Beaupre drew a long face when 
he saw the river, for the recent rains had made it turbid and 
swollen to an unusual height, and this augured ill for the state of 
the ground on the other side. For the first mile, however, we got 
on well enough, as the road took advantage of a ridge for two- 
thirds of that distance; but, then came the dreaded spot. It 
looked no worse than the rest, but the danger was unseen. Deep 
holes formed by springs abounded underneath the soft thick 
moss, in which horses would sink to their necks. The task was 
to find a line of sure ground, and by avoiding Scylla not to fall 
into Charybdis. As Valad with Indian, and Brown with Scotch 
caution were trying the ground all round, Beaupre leading his 
horse by the bridle dashed in close to the swollen river, at a 
most unlikely spot, exclaiming " I'll chance it any way." The 
words were only out of his lips when he fell into a pool up to his 
middle ; but, undismayed he scrambled out and keeping close to 
beds of willows and alder, actually found a way so good that all 
the rest followed him. Only one pack-horse sank so hopelessly 
deep, into a hole, that he had to be unpacked and lifted out, 
Beaupre hoisting by the tail with a mighty hoist — lor the man 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 21 3 

had the strength of a giant. An hour after sunset, we arrived at 
an ascent where it was possible to camp, though the bare 
blackened half-burnt poles all round gave a cheerless aspect to 
the scene. All were too tired to be critical ; thankful besides 
that the worst was over, and that to-morrow, according to Valad 
there would be ' un beau chemin.' 

To-day we had travelled twenty miles, representing probably 
fourteen on the map. As more could not have been done, no 
one grumbled, though all devoutly longed for a more modern 
rate of speed. Crossing muskegs, it is impossible to hurry horses, 
and when fallen timber cannot be jumped or scrambled over, a 
single tree on the path may necessitate a detour of fifty yards to 
make five. How the heavily laden pack-horses of the Hudson's 
Bay Company get along such a road, is rather a puzzle ? 

September 7th. — We got away from camp at 6.45 A.M. ; and 
in less than two hours came again in view of the McLeod ; — nar- 
rower and much more like the child of the mountains than at 
the first crossing. Instead of sand bars as there, ridges and 
masses of rounded stones and boulders are strewn along its 
shores, or piled up with drifted trees and rubbish in the shallower 
parts of its bed. The trail led up stream near the bank, descend- 
ing headlong to the river two or three times, and then ascending 
precipitous bluffs that tested the horses' wind severely. From 
these summits, views of a section of the Rocky Mountains, sixty 
or seventy miles away to the south-west, rewarded our exertions, 
and were the only thing that justified Valad's phrase of ' beau 
chemin.' The deep sides of the mountains and two or three of 
the summits were white with snow, and under the rays of the 
sun one part looked green and glacier-like. We should have 
crossed and then recrossed the McLeod hereabouts to escape the 
worst part of the road, but Valad, to his own intense mortifica- 
tion, missed the point where the trail led oft" to the ford. There 
was nothing left, therefore, but to keep pegging away at the rate 



214 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

of a mile an hour, up and down hill, through thick underbrush of 
willows and aspens that had sprung up round the burnt spruce 
and cotton-wood, which still reared aloft their tall blackened 
shafts. 

At I o'clock, we dined beside the river on the usual breakfast 
and supper fare, having travelled twelve or thirteen miles in six 
hours and a quarter. Muskegs and windfalls delayed us most, 
the former being always near creeks, and worse than the latter. 
The only hard ground was on the sandy or gravelly ridges 
separating the intervening valleys, and on these, windfalls had 
accumulated from year to year, so that the trail in many places 
was buried out of sight. While at dinner, clouds gathered in the 
west and quickly overspread the whole sky. This hurried our 
movements, but the rain was on — with thunder and lightning — 
in ten minutes. After the first smart shower, a lull followed 
which the men took advantage of to pack the horses, drying their 
backs as well as possible before putting on the saddles. 

A little after 3 P.M., we were on the march and on rather a 
better road, though of the same general character as in the 
morning. Heavy thunder showers broken by gleams of sunlight 
dispelling the leaden clouds from time to time, gave a sky of 
wonderful grandeur and colour. The- river and the finely wooded 
hilly country beyond, for hereabouts too the opposite banks had 
escaped the ravages of fire — probably because there was no trail 
and no travelling on that side, displayed themselves in magni- 
ficent panoramic views from every bluff we climbed, while far to 
the west and south-west beyond the hills, masses of clouds 
concealing the mountains but assuming the forms and almost 
the solidity of the mountains, made an horizon worthy of the 
whole sky and of the foreground. At sunset we descended for 
the last time to the river, and skirting it for two miles or crossing 
to long islets where the current divided itself, reached a beautiful 
prairie and camped under the shade of a group of spruce and 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 215 

poplars. This was the point Valad had aimed for, as a good place 
for the Sunday rest, chiefly because of the feed ; and here we 
were to take leave of the McLeod, and cross to the Athabasca — 

* No more by thee our steps shall be 
For ever and for ever,' 

or at least until there is a better road, was gladly chorussed, 
for we were all heartily sick of the McLeod. From its water- 
shed to this point was less than eighty miles, and to get over 
that distance had occupied four and a half days of the hardest 
travelling. The tally of the week was 1 20 miles, and every one 
was satisfied with it because more could uot have been done. 
And when, on the only occasion in the week on which spirits 
were used, the whole party gathered round the camp-fire after 
supper to have the Saturday night toasts of ' wives and sweet- 
hearts ' and 'the Dominion and the Railroad,' immediately after 
4 the Queen,' the universal feeling was of thankful content that 
we had got on without casualties, and that to-morrow was 
Sunday. The men being without waterproofs had not an inch 
of dry clothing on them, but they dried themselves at the big 
fire as if it was the jolliest thing in the world to be wet. Valad, 
under the influence of a glass of the mildest toddy, relaxed from 
his Indian gravity and taciturnity, and smiled and talked 
benignantly. ' When with gentlemen ' he was pleased to inform 
us, ' he was treated like a gentleman ; but when with others he 
had a hard time of it.' Poor Valad ! what a lonely joyless life 
he lived, yet he did his duty like a man, and bore himself with 
the dignity of a man who lived close to and learned the lessons 
of nature. Some will blame us for giving toddy to an Indian, or 
for taking it ourselves, and perhaps more severely for not sup- 
pressing all mention of the fact. Our only answer is that a little 
did us good and we were thankful for the good, and that the one 
merit this diary aspires to is to be a frank and truthful narrative. 



2l6 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

It would have been mean to have left Valad out ; and to show 
an Indian that it was possible to be temperate in all things, 
possible to use a stimulant without abusing it, seemed to us on 
the whoie a better lesson to enforce practically, than to have 
preached an abstinence that he would have misunderstood. 

September 8th. — Another Day of rest, with nothing to 
chronicle save our ordinary Sunday routine. But no, — this is 
doing great injustice to the Doc.or who eclipsed all his former 
efforts, in the way of providing medical comforts, by concocting a 
plum-pudding for dinner. The Doctor s prescriptions smelled 
of the pharmacopoeia as little as possible. Was an old woman 
that he met on the way complaining of ' a wakeness ? ' Send her 
a pannikin of hot soup. Were Valad's legs inflamed by rubbing 
all day against his coarse trowsers in the saddle ? Make him a 
present of a pair of soft flannel drawers. Was a good ' Father ' 
at the mission in failing health ? Fatten him up with rich diet, 
even on fast days. And finally were we all desirous of celebrating 
a birth-day, and did the thought make us a little homesick, the 
only sickness that our own party ever suffered from ? Get up a 
plum-pudding for dinner. 

But how ? We had neither bag, suet, nor plums. But we had 
berry pemmican, and pemmican in its own line is equal to sha- 
ganappi. It contained buffalo fat that would do for suet, and 
berries that would do for plums. Only genius could have united 
plum-pudding and berry pemmican in one mental act. Terry 
contributed a bag, and, when the contribution was inspected 
rather daintily, he explained that it was the sugar bag, which 
might be used as there was very little sugar left for it to hold. 
Pemmican, flour and water, baking soda, sugar and salt were 
surely sufficient ingredients ; as a last touch the Doctor searched 
the medicine-chest, but in vain, for tincture of ginger to give a 
flavour, and in default of that, suggested chlorodyne, but the 
Chief promptly negatived the suggestion, on the ground that if 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 21/ 

we ate the pudding the chlorodyne might be required a few 
hour.- after. 

At 3 P.M. the bag was put in the pot, and dinner was ordered 
to be at 5. At the appointed hour everything else was ready ;, 
the usual piece de resistance of pemmican, flanked for Sunday 
garnishing, by two reindeer tongues. But as we gathered round, 
it v^ as announced that the pudding was a failure ; that it would 
not unite ; that buffalo fat was not equal in cohesive power to 
suet, and thar instead of a pudding it would be only boiled pemmi- 
can. The Doctor might have been knocked down with a feather ; 
Frank was loud and savage in his lamentations ; but the Chief 
advised ' more boiling,' as an infallible specific in such cases, and 
that dinner be proceeded with. The additional half hour acted 
like a charm. With fear and trembling the Doctor went to the 
pot ; anxious heads bent down with his ; tenderly was the bag 
lifted out and slit ; and a joyous shout conveyed the intelligence 
that it was a success, that at any rate it had the shape of a pud- 
ding. Brown, who had been scoffing, was silenced ; and the Doctor 
conquered him completely by helping him to a double portion. 
How good that pudding was ! A teaspoonful of brandy on a 
sprinkling of sugar made sauce ; and there was not one of the 
party who did not hold out his plate for "more," though, as the 
Doctor belonged to the orthodox school of medicine, the first 
helping had been no homoeopathic dose. To have been perfect 
the pudding should have had more boiling ; but no one dared 
hint a fault, for was not the dish empty ? We at once named the 
place Plum-Pudding Camp, and Brown was engaged on the spot 
to make a better if he could at the Yellow Head Pass Camp. 

In all respects save weather the day was as pleasant as our 
former Sundays ; but gusts of wind blew the smoke of the fire 
into the tent, and the grass was too thoroughly soaked with rain 
for pleasant walking. The sun struggled to come out but scarcely 
succeeded, and towards evening a cold rain, that would be snow 



2l8 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

on the mountains, set in. Valad had pitched a separate camp 
for himself under a grove of pines, that sheltered him beautifully 
from the wind and rain. So cozy was it that during the day 
one after another resorted thither, for a pipe or a quiet read, when 
eyes could no longer endure the big tent's smoke. 

The usual morning and evening services were attended by all. 
Without them the day would have been a rest, but otherwise not 
of much profit. Each time that we united as one body in wor- 
ship, our thoughts were raised from earth and the bond that 
united us became stronger and more sacred. 

September 9th. — Up very early this morning, but it was 7 
before we said 'goodbye' to Plum Pudding Camp and the 
McLeod river. In packing horses, the more haste the less speed. 
Any twist of the shaganappi omitted is sure to avenge itself at 
the most inconvenient place. And as none but Brown and 
Beaupre could do this work, it took a long time. 

The night had been cold and the grass in the morning was 
crisp with frost, but the sun rose bright and soon dissolved the 
hoar into dew. We started in high spirits, under the warm rays 
of the sun, with good hopes of soon seeing the Athabasca. The 
trail to it leads up an intervale of the McLeod for a mile, and 
then crosses a hilly portage thirteen miles long. The portage 
consists of ridges of gravel intermixed with clay, supporting a 
growth of pines and spruce large enough for railway or building 
purposes. At the bottom of each ridge is a creek of clear cold 
water, running over black muck or whitish clay. Half way 
across, a lake, that empties into the Athabasca, lies under the 
shadow of the Foot Hills ; and from this point successive steep 
descents, lead to streams running in deep valleys over pebbly 
beds, and through the woods glimpses are had of blue wooded 
heights on the other side of the Athabasca. Instead of going 
directly west to the river, the trail trends more to the south, 
ascending the river at a distance from it, and we thus missed 



FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 219 

the large alluvial flat a little north called Le Grand Bas-fond, 
where is the only good grass for miles. At I o'clock we got our 
first sight of the Athabasca, from a high bluff, and beyond it to 
the south-west, fifty miles off but seemingly close at hand, the 
Rocky Mountains covered with snow. It was time to halt, but 
the pasture under the pines and spruces was so scant that it 
would have been a mockery to turn the horses loose. We 
resolved therefore to keep moving and make only one spell for 
the day. For two hours longer the patient creatures toiled on, 
as willingly as when fresh ; the trail winding for five or six miles 
up and down the steep banks of the river, and crossing several 
mountain streams, and for the next five going along a smooth 
terrace of shingle, now a hundred feet above the river but once its 
bed. Here the trail was so good that, with few interruptions 
the jog trot was maintained. At length on a burnt tract, rich 
heavy bunch-grass — enough for the night — showed, and the trail 
descending to another bench only ten feet above the present bed 
of the river, we camped on the lower, and drove the horses back 
to the upper terrace after watering them. In a continuous march 
of ten hours about twenty-five miles had been travelled. 

Valad shook his head when he saw the white peaks and the 
river. He had never known the former so covered with snow, 
nor the latter so swollen at this season of the year. There must 
have been severe weather in the mountains, with the probable 
consequence for us, that instead of fording we would have to 
construct a raft opposite Jasper House. 

The Athabasca at this early point of its course is nearly as 
large as the Saskatchewan at Edmonton, of the same clay 
colour, and running with a more rapid current. It varies in 
breadth according as it is hemmed in by cliffs of sandstones, 
shales, and clay; or as its shores expand into intervales or broad 
terraces rising one above the other. These successive terraces 
are marked very distinctly in several places on both sides of the 



220 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

stream. Dr. Hector measured their heights with the aneroid at 
1 Le Grand Bas-fond,' and found that the three lowest and most 
distinctly marked were fifteen, a hundred, and two hundred and 
ten feet above the alluvial bottom of the valley, while one above, 
not so uniformly distinct, was three hundred and seventy feet. 
These terraces are covered with spruce and pine, most of which 
has escaped fires. 

From the terrace above our camp, the mountains seemed 
immediately beyond the wood on the opposite side of the river 
They towered up in a grand silver -tipped line closing the western 
horizon so high up, that the sun always sets here more than half 
an hour sooner than on the plains. 

At length we had come to the bases of the Rocky Mountains, 
and the sight of them was sufficient reward for all the toil of the 
preceding fortnight. 

While hacking with his axe at brush on the camping ground, 
just where our heads would lie, Brown struck something metallic 
that blunted the edge of the axe. Feeling with his hand he drew 
out from near the root of a young spruce tree, an ancient sword 
bayonet, the brazen hilt and steel blade in excellent preserva- 
tion, but the leather scabbard half eaten as if by the teeth of 
some animal. It seemed strange in this vast and silent forest 
wilderness thus to come upon a relic that told, probably, of the 
old days when the two rival fur companies armed their agents 
to the teeth, and when bloody contests often took place between 
them. Brown presented the " treasure trove " to the Chief, for 
his museum, as a memento of the Athabasca, and from it, this 
our forty-fourth camp, since leaving Thunder Bay, received the 
name of Bayonet Camp. 

To-night we rest under the protection of the Rocky Mountains. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
The Rocky Mountains. 

The Flora.— The Mountains.— Prairie River.— Grilled Beaver.— Roche aMyette.— Roche 
a Perdrix.— Roche Ronde.— Jasper House.— Roche Jacques.— Roche Suette.— Roche 
Bosche. — First night in the Mountains. — Crossing the Athabasca. —Magnificent 
mountain scenery.— Pyramid Rock.— Jasper Lake. — Snaring River.— Jasper Valley ■ 
—"We meet Pacific men.— Hyiu muck- a-muck ! Hyiu iktahs!— Old Henry House.— The 
Caledonian Valley.— A rough trail.— Desolate camping ground. — Good cheer.— The 
trail party.— Yellow Head Pass.— Nameless mountain peaks.- Sunday dinner in " The 
Pass." 

September loth. — The Athabasca fell six inches during the 
night. Got away from camp at 7.30 A.M., and for two hours 
had a delightful ride to Prairie River. The trail ran along a 
terrace of shingle or alluvial flats, and was free from fallen 
timber and muskegs. Most of the flowers were out of blossom, 
but in the spring and summer these open meadow-like places 
must be gay with anemones, roses, vetches, and a great variety 
of compositae — none of which were now in bloom, except a light- 
blue aster that had accompanied us from the North Saskat- 
chewan, and all the way through the wooded country. The 
burnt ground shewed a brilliant crimson flower from which red 
ink is made, and which we had seen on the Matawan. 

Few, however, thought of plants to-day or of anything but the 
mountains that stood in massive grandeur, thirty miles ahead, 
but on account of the morning light, in which every point came 
out clear, seemingly just on the other side of each new patch of 
wood or bit of prairie before us. 

They rose bold and abrupt five or six thousand feet from the 

wooded country at their feet, — the western verge of the plains, 

the elevation of which was over three thousand feet additional 

above the sea, — and formed in long unbroken line across our path, 

save where cleft in the centre down to their very feet, by the 
(221) 



222 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

chasm that the Athabasca, long ago forced, or found for itself. 
''There are no Rocky Mountains" has been the remark of many 
a disappointed traveller by the Union and Central Pacific Rail- 
ways. The remark will never be made by those who travel on 
the Canadian Pacific ; there was no ambiguity about these being 
mountains, nor about where they commenced. The line was 
defined, and the scarp as clear, as if they had been hewn and 
chiselled for a fortification. The summits on one side of the 
Athabasca were serrated, looking sharp as the teeth of a saw ; 
on the other, the Roche a Myette, immediately behind the first 
line, reared a great solid unbroken cube, two thousand feet high, 
a " forehead bare," twenty times higher than Ben An's ; and, 
before and beyond it, away to the south and west, extended 
ranges with bold summits and sides scooped deep, and corries 
far down, where formerly, the wood buffalo, and the elk, and now 
the moose, bighorn, and bear find shelter. There was nothing 
fantastic about their forms. Everything was imposing. And these 
too were ours, an inheritance as precious, if not as plentiful in 
corn and milk, as the vast rich plains they guarded. For moun- 
tains elevate the mind, and give an inspiration of courage and 
dignity :o the hardy races who own them, and who breathe their 
atmosphere. 

For the strenerth of the hills we bless thee 
Our God, our fathers' God. 
Thou hast made our spirits mighty 
With the touch of the mountain sod. 

The scent had its effect on the whole party. As we wound in 
long Indian file along the sinuous trail, that led across grassy 
bas-fonds under the shadow of the mountains that were still a 
day's journey distant, not a word was heard nor a cry to the 
horses for the first half-hour. Valad led the way, clad friar-like 
in blue hooded capote which he wore all regardless of the fact 
that the sun was shining ; Brown next, in rugged miner costume 
half-leathern half-woollen, and Beaupre in the same with a 



THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 223 

touch of colour added ; the Chief and the Doctor in their yellow 
moose-hide jackets; even Terry, who of late invariably brought 
up the rear, ceased to howl " git up out o' that " to the unfor- 
tunate animal he sat upon, dropped his stick, and put his pipe 
in his waistcoat pocket. He had seen Vesuvius, the Himalayas 
and the Hill of Howth, but they were " nauthin to this." Before 
us, at times, a grove of dark green spruce, and, beyond the sombre 
wood, the infinitely more sombre grey of the mountains ; where 
the wood had been burnt, the bare blackened poles seemed to 
be only a screen hung before, half revealing, half concealing, 
what was beyond. The mountains dwarfed and relieved 
everything else. There was less snow than had appeared yester- 
day, the explanation being that the first and least elevated moun- 
tain range only was before us now that we were near, whereas, 
when at a greater distance, many of the higher summits beyond 
were visible. 

Soon after crossing Prairie River, the trail led away to the 
east from the Athabasca among windfalls of the worst kind, 
or muskegs, and up and down steep banks. Little progress was- 
made for the next two hours, but the mountain air told so on 
our appetites that at midday a halt of an hour and a half was 
imperatively demanded, although it had to be on the borders of 
a swamp among blackened poles. 

After dinner we resumed the march and soon crossed another 
Prairie River, formed apparently by the union of three streamlets, 
winding by different valleys down a wooded range that lies at 
the foot of the mountains, and extends east by north for some 
distance. By one of these valleys there is a direct road to the 
McLeod, and probably a route may be found by the same for the 
railway. The view of the mountains all this afternoon more than 
made up for the difficulties of theroad. Instead of being clearly 
outlined, cold, and grey as in the morning, they appeared in- 
distinct through a warm deep blue haze ; we had come nearer 



224 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

but they seemed to have removed farther back. 

When on the other side of Prairie River, the wooded range 
from which it flowed was on our left, and the high wooded hills 
beyond the Athabasca on our right. Woods and hills in front 
closed up the lower part of the gorge from which the Athabasca 
issued, and completely divided the Rocky Mountains into two 
ranges, right and left ; thus an amphitheatre of mountains closed 
round while we were making for the open that yawned right in 
front. 

It was now only 4.30 P.M. and the travel of the day not more 
them 17 miles ; but Valad stated that there was no other good 
place for the horses to rest on this side of the south end of Lac 
Brule, and that it would take four hours to reach it. Reluctantly 
the order was given to camp ; and to improve the time, Frank 
and Valad went off to hunt, and the Chief and the Secretary to 
climb a hill and note the surrounding country. Bear and fresh 
moose tracks were seen by the latter two, and fresh otter trails 
leading down into the river. On their return they fell in with Frank 
carrying a beaver ; he and Valad had fired at two and shot one. 
The Doctor in their absence had fished in most primitive style, 
with a tent pole and twine, and a hook baited with pemmican, and 
had caught two fine trout. Having this varied provision, supper 
without richaud was unanimously decreed, and Valad set to 
work at once on the beaver and Terry on the fish. In fifteen 
minutes Valad had the animal skinned, boned, the whole of the 
meat stretched out in one piece on a brander of sticks and 
exposed to the fire to grill ; the tail on another stick, and the 
liver on a third. We waited impatiently for supper, the Secretary 
making toast of Terry's under-done bread to keep himself from 
murmuring. In due time everything was ready, and the five 
who had never tasted beaver, prepared themselves to sit in 
judgment. The verdict was favourable throughout ; the meat 
tender, though dry, the liver a delicious morsel, and the tail 



THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 225 

superior to the famous moose-muffle. Within an hour after that 
beaver had been industriously at work on his dam, he formed 
part of the interior economy of eight different stomachs, and 
scarcely a scrap was left to show what he once had been. More 
sudden and complete metamorphosis, surely, is not in Ovid. 
The trout were excellent, so that it may be understood that a 
" straight meal " was made. In honour of the great event of the 
evening, this, our forty-fifth, was named Beaver Camp. 

Having lost an hour and a half of sunlight by not knowing 
whether there was grass ahead, and by not wishing the horses to 
run the risk of going supperless to bed, we made arrangements 
to start early to-morrow for a long spell. 

This was to be our last night on the plains. To-morrow night 
we would be in the embrace of the mountains. 

September nth.— Away this morning at 6.15 A.M., and 
halted at 1 P.M., after crossing the Riviere de Violon or Fiddle 
river, when fairly inside the first range. It was a grand morning 
for mountain scenery. For the first three hours the trail conti- 
nued at some distance east from the valley of the Athabasca, 
among wooded hills, now ascending, now descending, but on the 
whole with an upward slope, across creeks where the ground was 
invariably boggy, over fallen timber, where infinite patience was 
required on the part of horse and man. Suddenly it opened out 
on a lakelet, and right in front, a semi-circle of five glorious 
mountains appeared ; a high wooded hill and Roche a Perdrix 
on our left, Roche a Myette beyond, Roche Ronde in front, and 
a mountain above Lac Brule on our right. For half a mile down 
from their summits, no tree, shrub, or plant covered the nakedness 
of the three that the old trappers had thought worthy of names; 
and a clothing of vegetation would have marred their massive 
grandeur. The first three were so near and towered up so bold 
that their full forms, even to the long shadows on them, were 
reflected clearly in the lakelet, next to the rushes and spruce of 



226 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

its own shores. Here is scene for a grand picture equal to 
Hill's much admired painting of the "Yo Semite Valley." A 
httle farther on, another lakelet reflected the mountains to the 
right, showing not only the massive grey and blue of the lime- 
stone, but red and green colourings among the shales that 
separated the strata of limestone. The road now descended 
rapidly from the summit of the wooded hill that we had so slowly 
gained, to the valley of the Athabasca. As it wound from point 
to point among the tall dark green spruces, and over rose bushes 
and vetches, the soft blue of the mountains gleamed through 
everywhere, and when the woods parted, the mighty column of 
Roche a Perdrix towered a mile above our heads, scuds of clouds 
kissing its snowy summit, and each plication and angle of the 
different strata up its giant sides boldly and clearly revealed. 
We were entering the magnificent Jasper portals of the Rocky 
Mountains by a quiet path winding between groves of trees and 
rich lawns like an English gentleman's park. 

Crossing a brook divided into half a dozen brooklets by 
willows, the country opened a little and the base and inner side 
of Roche a Perdrix were revealed ; but, it was still an amphi- 
theatre of mountains that opened out before us, and Roche a 
Myette seemed as far off as ever. Soon the Riviere de Violon 
was heard brawling round the base of Roche a Perdrix and 
rushing on like a true mountain torrent to the Athabasca. We 
stopped to drink to the Queen out of its clear ice cold waters, 
and halted for dinner in a grove on the other side of it, thoroughly 
excited and awed by the grand forms that had begirt our path 
for the last three hours. We could now sympathise with the daft 
enthusiast, who returned home after years of absence, and when 
asked what he had as an equivalent for so much lost time, — 
answered only " I have seen the Rocky Mountains." .' 

After dinner, a short walk enabled us to take bearings. The 
valley of the Athabasca from two to five miles wide, according 



THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 227 

as a sandy bas-fond or intervale along its shore varied in width, 
extended up to the west and south, guarded on each side by giant 
forms. We had come inside the range, and it was no longer an 
amphitheatre of hills but a valley ever opening, and at each turn 
revealing new forms, that was now before us. Roche Ronde was 
to our right, its stratification as distinct as the leaves of a half 
opened book. The mass of the rock was limestone, and what 
at a distance had been only peculiarly bold and rugged outlines, 
were now seen to be the different angles and contortions of the 
strata. And such contortions ! One high mass twisting up the 
sides in serpentine folds, as if it had been so much pie-crust ; 
another bent in great waving lines like petrified billows. The 
colouring too was all that artist could desire. Not only the dark 
green of the spruce in the corries which turned into black when 
far up ; but autumn tints of red and gold as high as vegetation 
had climbed on the hill sides ; and above that, streaks and 
patches of yellow, green, rusty red, and black relieving the grey 
mass of limestone ; while up the valley, every shade of blue, 
came out according as the hills were near or far away, and 
summits hoary with snow bounded the horizon. 

There was a delay of three hours at dinner because the horses 
as if allured by the genii of the mountains, had wandered more 
than a mile up the valley, but at four o'clock all was in order 
again and the march resumed in the same direction. A wooded 
hill that threw itself out between Roches a Perdrix and a Myette 
had first to be rounded. This hill narrowed the valley, and 
forced the trail near the river. When fairly round it, Roche a 
Myette came full into view, and the trail now led along its base. 
> Myette is the characteristic mountain of the Jasper valley. 
There are others as high, but its grand bare forehead is recognized 
everywhere. It is five thousand eight hundred feet above the 
valley, or over nine thousand feet above the sea. Doctor Hector 
with the agent in charge of Jasper House climbed to a sharp 



228 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

peak far above any vegetation, three thousand five hundred feet 

above the valley, but the great cubical block which formed the 

top towered more than two thousand feet higher. A hunter who 

has given his name to the mountain, is the only one that ever 

ascended this cube. He made the ascent from the south side, 

every other being absolutely inaccessible, i Dr. Hector gives the 

following description of the composition of Myette. " It is 

composed of a mass of strata, which have at one time formed the 

trough of a huge plication ; viz : 

ft. 
(*) Hard compact blue limestone and shale, with nodules of 



i 



2,000 
iron pyrites. 

(b) Fossil shales almost black 300 

(r) Hard grey sandstone 100 

(d) Shales towards the upper part with green and red blotches.. 500 

(?) Cherty limestone and coarse sandstone obscured by timber.. 3,000 

The ridge we had ascended is formed of cherty limestone and 
capped by yellow shales with beds of black sandstone forming 
the highest point." 

The views this afternoon from every new point were wonder- 
fully striking. Looking back on Roche a Perdrix it assumed 
more massive proportions than when we were immediately 
beneath. A huge shoulder stretched up the valley, one side 
covered with bare poles, grey as itself, and the other with sombre 
firs. From it the great summit upreared itself so conspicuously, 
that it filled the back ground and closed the mouth of the valley. 
Valad in grave tones told the story of his old partner — an unfor- 
tunate half-breed, — who when hunting bighorn on its precipitous 
slopes, twenty-two years ago, was carried over one of them on a 
snow slide and dashed in pieces. 

A good photographer would certainly make a name and 
perhaps a fortune, if he came up here and took views. At 
every step we longed for a camera. On the opposite side of the 



THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 229 

river a valley opened to the north, along the sides of which rose 
mountain after mountain with the clearly defined outlines that the 
secondary formation of the rocks here gives to them. On the same 
side the range from Roche Ronde was continued further up the 
Athabasca by a hump-shaped rock, and then by a vast mass, like 
a quadrilateral rampart, with only two sides of the square visible, 
the sides furrowed deep, but the line of the summit unbroken. 
At the base of this — Roche Suette — is Jasper's House and 
opposite it, Roche Jacques showed as great a mass, with two 
snow-clad peaks, while the horizon beyond seemed a continuous 
bank of snow on mountain ranges. But the most wonderful 
object was Roche a Myette, right above us on our left. That im- 
posing sphinx-like head with the swelling Elizebethan ruff of 
sandstone and shales all around the neck, save on one side where 
a corrugated mass of party coloured strata twisted like a coil of 
serpents from far down nearly half way up the head, haunted us 
for days. Mighty must have been the forces that upreared and 
shaped such a monument. Vertical strata were piled on hori- 
zontal, and horizontal again on the vertical, as if nature had 
determined to build a tower that would reach to the skies. As 
we passed this old warder of the valley, the sun was setting 
behind Roche Suette. A warm south-west wind as it came in 
contact with the snowy summit formed heavy clouds, that threw 
long black shadows, and threatened rain ; but the wind carried 
them past to empty their buckets on the woods and prairies. 

It was time to camp, but where ? The Chief, Beaupre, and 
Brown rode ahead to see if the river was fordable. The rest 
followed, going down to the bank and crossing to an island 
formed by a slew of the river, to avoid a steep rock, the trail 
along which was fit only for chamois or bighorn. Here we were 
soon joined by the three who had ridden ahead, and who brought 
back word that the Athabasca looked ugly, but was still subsid- 
ing, and might be fordable in the morning. It was decided to 



230 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

camp on the spot, and send the horses back a mile for feed. The 
resources of the island would not admit of our light cotton sheet 
being stretched as an overhead shelter, so we selected the 
lee side of a dwarf aspen thicket, and spread our blankets on 
the gravel ; a good fire being made in front to cook our 
supper and keep our feet warm through the night. Some of us 
sat up late, watching the play of the moonlight on the black 
clouds that drifted about her troubled face, as she hung over 
Roche Jacques ; and, then we stretched ourselves out to sleep, 
on our rough but truly enviable couch, rejoicing in the open sky 
for a canopy, and in the circle of great mountains that formed 
the walls of our indescribably magnificent bed chamber. It had 
been a day long to be remembered. Only one mishap had 
occurred ; the Chief's bag got a crush against a rock, and his 
flask, that held a drop of brandy carefully preserved for the next 
plum-pudding, was broken. It was hard, but on an expedition 
like this the most serious losses are taken calmly and soon 
forgotten. 

September 2nd. — We slept soundly our first night in the 
mountains, and after a dip in the Athabasca and breakfast, Valad 
went off on horse-back to try the fords. Though the river had 
fallen six inches since last night, he found it still too deep for 
pack horses, and there was nothing for it but to construct a raft, 
— a work of some difficulty when a big one is needed, and there 
is no auger and only one axe to cut down the wood. We had 
time now to take a good view from our Island Camp. Looking 
forward, Roche Jacques closed the horizon on the left ; to his 
right and farther up the river, the Pyramid Rock barred the 
way, a graceful conical shaped mountain like Schiehallion, but 
grander, his front-face a mass of snow. Between these two our 
road lay after crossing the river. Opposite the camp to the north, 
the hump of Roche a Bosche, stood out prominently ; separated 
from it by the Indian Snake River, and two or three miles 




Jill . 



THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 231 

farther up stream, the great wall of Roche Suette, at the foot of 
which Jasper house is situated, blocked the western way. 

The forenoon looked as if it meant rain. Sunrise gilded with 
fire the tops of the mountains ; but the light soon died away. 
Clouds and mists gathered round Roches Jacques and Suette, 
but hung there instead of coming down, and the white face of the 
Pyramid Rock, that divided the two, stood out clear and un- 
touched by the rolling vapour. 

The Chief made some pencil sketches, while the men went up 
stream a mile to a suitable part of the river and worked hard 
preparing a raft till 10.30 A.M., by which time they had enough 
logs for the purpose cut and carried down to the bank. Returning 
to camp for an early dinner of tea and cold pemmican, they 
then H packed " the horses, carried everything up to the raft and 
unpacked there. Fifteen or sixteen logs bound together by three 
strong crosspoles, and tied each to each with folds of rope, com- 
posed the raft. Between the crosspoles a number of smaller ones 
were laid, to serve for a floor and keep the luggage from getting 
wet. The Chief and the two packers were then left to manage 
the raft, and the rest stripped to the middle and rode across — 
Centaur like — driving before them the unsaddled pack-horses* 
At the crossing the river is divided by sand bars into three parts, 
and at two of these the water reached to the pommel of the saddle. 
All got over safely, though there was some danger on account 
of the strength of the current ; and the raft followed, after a 
delay caused by the weight of the cargo necessitating the 
addition of two big logs to make the ship float lightly enough. 
A ride of two miles took us to Jasper's, where we arrived exactly 
fifteen days after leaving Edmonton, two of them days of rest 
and a third lost by the obstruction of the Athabasca. It is hardly 
fair to speak of it as lost however, for there was no point at which 
the delay of a day was so little unacceptable to us. The mountains 
of the Jasper valley would have repaid us for a week's detention. 



232 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

This station is now all but abandoned by the Hudson's Bay Cy. 
It was formerly of considerable importance, not only from the 
number of fur-bearing animals around, but because it was the 
centre of a regular line of communication between Norway 
House and Edmonton on the one side, and the Columbia 
District and Fort Vancouver on the other. An agent and three 
or four men were then stationed at it all the year round. Even in 
Dr. Hector's time the house must have been of a somewhat 
pretentious order, for he speaks of it as " constructed after the 
Swiss style, with overhanging roofs and trellised porticos." 
Now there are only two log houses, the largest propped up before 
and behind with rough shores, as if to prevent it being blown 
away into the River or back into the Mountain gorges. The 
houses are untenanted, locked, and shuttered. Twice a year an 
agent comes up from Edmonton to trade with the Indians of 
the surrounding country and carry back the furs. 

The Chief expected to meet at this point, or to hear some 
tidings of one of his parties that had been instructed to explore 
from the Pacific side of the mountains in the direction of the 
Jasper valley. As no trace of any recent visit could be found, 
we moved on up the Athabasca ; the trail leading along the 
sandy beach of Lake Jasper for two miles to a little opening 
on the hill side above, where as there was a species of small 
bunch-grass growing, and no one knew of feed farther on, camp 
was pitched for the night about five P.M. 

Our four miles travel to day on the west bank of the river was 
a succession of magnificent mountain views. After crossing the 
Athabasca the valley of Rocky River, which runs into it, opposite 
Jasper House, opened out, extending away to the south east, 
bordered on both banks by ranges of serrated bare peaks while 
seemingly in the very centre rose a wooded conical hill. Round 
all these, masses of mist were enfolding themselves, and the sun 
shining at the same time brought out the nearest in clear relief. 



THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 23$; 

Jasper House itself is one of the best possible places for seeing to- 
advantage the mountains up and down the valley. It is situated 
on a pretty glade that slopes gently to the Athabasca, sufficiently 
large and open to command a view in every direction. Roche a 
Myette, distant five or six miles, is half concealed by intervening 
heights and is here less conspicuous than elsewhere even when 
seen from greater distances, but a gleam of sunlight brightens 
his great face and makes even it look lighsome. A score of miles 
to the south, the Pyramid Rock gracefully uplifts its snowy face 
and shuts in the valley, the space between being filled by the 
mountains of Rocky River and the great shoulders of Roche 
Jacques. Looking westerly, and behind the House, is Suette, his 
rampart rising cold, stern, and grey above his furrowed sides. 
Other peaks overhang the valley to the north, and between them 
deep wooded valleys are dark as night. Separated from these by 
the Snake Indian River, the true proportions of Roche a Bosche 
are seen for the first time." Away to the south the masses of 
snow on the Pyramid speak of coming-winter. 

There is a wonderful combination of beauty about these 
mountains. Great masses of boldly defined bare rock are 
united to all the beauty that variety of form, colour, and 
vegetation give. A noble river with many tributaries each 
defining a distinct range, and a beautiful lake ten miles long, 
embosomed three thousand three hundred feet above the sea, 
among mountains twice as high, offer innumerable scenes,, 
seldom to be found within the same compass, for the artist to 
depict and for every traveller to delight in. 

Valad informed us that the winter in this quarter is wonderfully 
mild, considering the height and latitude ; that the Athabasca 
seldom if ever freezes here, and that wild ducks remain all the 
year instead of migrating south, as birds farther east invariably 
do. The lake freezes, but there is so little snow that travellers 
prefer fording the river to trusting to the glare ice. 



-: OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

Our tent was pitched among firs on a slope above Lake 
Jasper. Gusts of wind came from every point in the compass, 
and blew about the sparks in a way dangerous to the blankets, 
but before we were well asleep rain began to fall and dispelled 
all apprehensions on the score of fire. 

September 1 3th, — The rain that had been brewing all yesterday 
came down last night in torrents. One awakened to find the 
boots at his head full of water ; the feet of another, the head of 
a third, the shoulders of a fourth, were in pools according to the 
form of the ground, or the precautions that each had taken 
before turning in. The clouds were lifting, however, and 
promised a fine day, and nobody cared for a little wetting, but 
everybody cared very much, when the Chief announced that the 
flour bag was getting so light that it might be neceesary to 
allowance the bread rations. That struck home, though there 
was abundance of pemmican and tea. By 645 A.M. we were 
on the march again, to go deeper into the mountains. 

The trail led along Lake Jasper and was so good that we 
made the west end of the lake, which is ten miles long, in two 
hours. Practically we were now without a guide ; for Valad 
had not been beyond Jasper House for twenty years, and twice 
before dinner he missed the trail. Every mile we advanced 
revealed new features. Roche Jacques rises on the opposite side 
of the lake, and one deep valley in his sides would be bright as 
an autumn garden, up to the line of snow ; the next, sombre 
with firs. Each of those valleys is seamed transversely by a 
number of streamlets, that divide it into a succession of plateaus 
rising higher and higher till the wall of steep bare rock is reached. 

But there is no sharp line dividing vegetation from the naked 
rock. A belt of harder rock intervening breaks the forest ; one 
or two hundred feet above, the trees may reappear in a long thin 
streak along the side of the mountain, like a regiment in line, or in 
a dense grove, like a column ; and a different stratification above 




BQ 



THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 235 

stops them again. The same change of strata, probably accounts 
for the absence of snow from belts which have snow above and 
beneath them ; far away these bare belts look like highways 
winding round the mountain. Behind, Myette reared his head 
over us, seemingly as near as ever ; the Pyramid Mountain sup- 
ported by a great rampart of rock, from which his lofty head rose 
gracefully, still closed the view ; and a cluster of snow clad 
peaks surrounded him at a respectful distance. From time to 
time we passed through woods that usually grow along the sides 
of burns rushing down into the lake ; and these prepared us for 
a fresh prospect beyond, so that the eye had a perpetual feast. 

At one point the trail led up some steep rocks, and from these 
the most charming views of the lake and the mountains were 
had. Towards the west end, a lakelet, separated from Lake Jasper 
by two low narrow pine clad ridges, presented in its dark green 
waters, that reflected the forest, a striking contrast to the light 
sunny grey of the larger lake reflecting the sky. 

Rounding the lake, the trail was encumbered with fallen 
timber, and from this point to the halting place for dinner at 
two o'clock we travelled slowly, doing altogether not more than 
eighteen or nineteen miles in the seven and a quarter hours. 
A great part of the last half of this distance, was through wood, 
some of it injured by fire, but most of it good. At the end of Lake 
Jasper, a strath, from two to five miles wide, which may still be 
called the Jasper valley, bends to the south. Our first look up this 
valley showed new lines of mountains on both sides, closed at the 
head by a great mountain so white with snow that it looked like a 
sheet suspended from the heavens. That, Valad said, was " La 
montagne de la grande traverse, " adding that the road to the 
Columbia country up the formidable Athabasca Pass, lay along 
its south eastern base, while our road would turn west up the 
valley of the River Myette. He mentioned the old local titles of 
the mountains on this side, but every passer by thinks that he has 



236 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

a right to give his own and his friends' names to them over 
again. 

In going through the woods we saw several broken traps. 
This was a famous place in the olden time for trappers, and on 
that account a foaming torrent that comes down between 
Pyramid Rock and three great crags to the north, like Salisbury 
Crags, Edinburgh, on a large scale, is called "Snaring River." 

Some of the timber here is three feet in diameter, chiefly fir, 
but near Snaring River a growth of small pines has sprung up on 
burnt ground. 

This torrent will be remembered by us because of the danger 
in crossing it, and because beside it we found the first traces of 
one of the parties we expected to meet in the Jasper valley. It 
is a foaming mountain torrent, with a bed full of large round 
boulders which it piles along its banks, or hurls down its bed to 
the Athabasca. These make the footing so precarious that if a 
horse falls, there is little hope for him or his rider. Valad 
crossed first. As the water came up to his horse's shoulder, and 
the horse stumbled several times, it was evidently risky. Just at 
this moment, Brown who had gone down stream to look for 
another ford, called out that he saw footprints of men and horses. 
Off went the Chief, and at the same moment Valad screamed 
across the torrent that white men had just been there. All 
followed the Chief, and Valad came back at a lower crossing. 
The traces ot three men and three shod horses, (showing 
that they did not belong to Indians) were clearly made out 
going down in the direction of the Athabasca ; but though 
guns were fired as a signal, no response was heard ; and the 
worcl was passed to cross at the lower ford. Beaupre took 
some pemmican in his pocket, as a precaution, in case all hands 
but himself were lost; notwithstanding the omen, we reached the 
other side safely, and pushed across a pine flat, and then a 
quaking bog like Chatmoss to a little lake, with treacherous 



THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 2^7 

quicksands on its shore and in its bed. On the other side is an 
extensive sandy bas-fond where we halted for dinner, sorely- 
regretting that the men who were on their way to Jasper's for the 
very purpose of meeting us, had missed us by being on a different 
trail or on no trail, for as the old one had been burnt over, neither 
party had found it. But the packs were scarcely off the horses' 
backs when a Shuswap Indian rode up the bank so quietly, that 
he was in our midst before we saw him, and after the usual hand- 
shaking, delivered a slip of paper to the Chief. Hurrah! it was 
from Moberly, and stated that he had jusl? struck fresh tracks and 
had sent back this Indian to learn who we were. Valad spoke to 
the Indian in Cree, and Beaupre in French, but he was from 
the Pacific side and only shook his head in answer. Brown then 
tried him in Chinook, a barbarous lingo of one or two hundred 
words, first introduced by the Hudson's Bay agents, for common 
use among themselves and the Pacific Indians ; and, generally 
spoken now all through Oregon, B. Columbia, and the north, by 
whites, Chinese, Indians, and all nationalities. The Shuswap's 
face brightened, and he answered in Chinook to the effect that 
Moberly was five or six miles back : that they had come three 
day's journey from their big camp, where there were lots of men 
and horses. Brown asked if they had enough to eat at the camp; 
' Oh ! hy-iu, muck a muck ! hy-iu iktahs!' 'Lots of grub, lots of 
good things' — was the ready answer. He was offered some 
pemmican and took it, but said that he had never seen such food 
before. A note was at once sent back to Moberly that we would 
move on, and that he would probably overtake us on the morrow. 
After dinner the march was resumed for seven miles up the 
valley. On the east side a succession of peaks ressembling each 
other with the exception of one — 'Roche a Bonhomme' — hemmed 
us in : while on the west, with lines oi stratification parallel to 
lines on the east side, the solid rampart at the base ot the 
Pyramid rose so steep and high, that the snowy summit behind 



238 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

could not be seen. The valley still averaged from two to five miles 
wide, though horizontal distances are so dwarfed by the towering 
altitude of the naked massive rocks on both sides, that it seemed 
to be scarcely one fourth of that width. What a singularly 
easy opening into the mountains, formed by some great convul- 
sion that had cleft them asunder, crushed and piled them up on 
each side like cakes of ice, much in the same way as may be 
seen in winter on the St. Lawrence or any of our rivers, on a 
comparatively microscopic scale, in ice-shoves ! The Athabasca 
finding so plain a coufte had taken it, gradually shaped and 
finished the valley, and strewn the bas-fonds, which cross-torrents 
from the hills have seamed and broken up. It looks as if nature 
had united all her forces to make this the natural highway 
into the heart of the Rocky Mountains. 

Myette and all his companions of the first range, that had be- 
come so familiar to us in the last few days, were completely 
hidden by the turn of the Athabasca ; and the mountains ahead, 
that had shown at the bend, were also hidden from view ; but at 
sunset we came to another bend that the river makes again to 
the west, and " La grande montagne de la traverse " came fully 
out in his snowy raiment, and the Pyramid peeped over the 
great wall, that girds his body and flows down over his feet, to 
see our backs. We turned with the river and, after going another 
mile encumbered with fallen timber, camped on a terrace over- 
looking the river and surrounded on all sides with snow-capped 
mountains. As this was to be our last night by the Athabasca 
and perhaps the last on the eastern slope of the mountains, we 
named this camp, the forty-eighth from Lake Superior, " Atha- 
basca." 

September 14th. — The trail this morning led along the Atha- 
basca for seven miles, to where the Myette runs into it, opposite 
the old " Henry House." With the exception of a difficulty soon 
after starting, cau;ed by the disappearance of the trail near the 



THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 239 

river and the forcing a path through thick brush till we found it 
again, the road was excellent ; passing for four or five miles over 
beautiful little "prairies," — which had not been touched as yet by 
the frost, and on which grew the bunch-grass that horses prefer 
to any other feed, — and for the next two or three miles through 
small and middling sized pines, so well apart from one another 
that it was easy to ride in any direction. The day was warm and 
sunny, and the black flies that had left us for a week reappeared 
here. This valley, which seemed as beautiful on the other side 
of the river, is so completely sheltered, that the winter in it must 
be very mild. 

The highest mountains that we had yet seen, showed this mor- 
ning away to the south in the direction of the Athabasca Pass r 
and "the Committee's Punch Bowl." This Pass is seven thousand 
feet high, and snow lies on its summit all the year round, but 
our road led westward up the Myette ; and, as the Athabasca here 
sweeps away to the south, under the name of Whirlpool river, 
the turn shut out from view for the rest of our journey, both the 
valley and the mountains of the Whirlpool. 

With the Myette bad roads began again. Just as they com- 
menced, Moberly caught up to us, having ridden on in advance 
of his men. He had left Victoria, Vancouver's Island, for 
the Columbia, having organized large provision-trains in the 
spring on pack-horses, and brought them on over incredible 
difficulties to " Boat encampment " at the most northerly bend 
of the Columbia. From Boat encampment they were to cross 
to the Athabasca Pass and move on to the Jasper valley, to afford 
autumn and winter supplies to the parties operating from that 
centre. He himself had crossed in advance direct to the lake 
on the other side oi the Yellow Head Pass, where he met one of 
the parties under his command, making a trail in the direction of 
the Pass from the west. Hearing nothing about us from them, 
he had loaded three horses with flour and bacon, and come on 



24O OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

to meet us. But by taking the river trail from Snaring River, two 
hours before our arrival there, he had missed us yesterday. 
Except the two Iroquois on the .MacLeod, his was the first face 
we had seen since leaving St. Ann's, and to meet him was like 
opening communication with the world again, although we, and 
not he had the latest news to give. — How welcome he was, we 
need not say ! 

The fir$t five miles up the Caledonian valley, as the valley of 
the Myette is called in the old maps and in Dr. Hector's journals, 
we made in about three hours, and a little after midday halted 
for dinner. Fallen timber was the principal cause of the slow 
rate, though the steep sharp rocks hurt the horses so much, that 
they had to tread softly and slowly. The rocks are hard rough 
sandstone, with a slaty or a peculiar pebbly fracture. The trail 
so far was scarcely worthy of the bad name travellers had given 
to it, and we began to imagine that the remaining fifteen miles 
to the Yellow Head Pass, could be made before nightfall. 
Moberly quietly said that it was a fond imagination, and that 
if the next five miles weVe got over by dark he would be satisfied, 
as it had taken him a whole day to make seven miles on his way 
down. Myette has such unpretending portals, especially when 
compared with the magnificent ranges about the Athabasca, it's 
current is so quiet, almost sluggish, near the mouth, and the valley 
is so short that no one would fore-cast any formidable difficulties, 
in ascending it to the Pass. But the afternoon proved that the 
valley is worthy of its old name ' Caledonian/ if the name was 
meant to suggest the thistle or the " wha' daur meddle wi' me !" 

The Myette has a wonderful volume of water for its short 
course. It rushes down a narrow valley fed at every corner by 
foaming fells from the hill-sides, and by several large tributaries. 
A short way up from its mouth it becomes simply a series 
of rapids or mad currents, hurling along boulders, trees, and 
debris of all kinds. The valley at first is uninteresting, but five 



THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 241 

miles up and for much of the rest of the way, is quite picturesque, 
two prominent mountains, that rise right above the Pass and the 
lake at the summit, closing it in at its head. 

Moberly's three men and horses, came up just as we were 
rising from dinner ; and they passed on ahead, axes in hand, to 
improve the trail a little. It certainly needed all the improve- 
ment it got, and a good deal more than they could give in an 
afternoon. Long swamps that reminded us of the muskegs on 
the MacLeod, covered with an under-brush of scrub birch, and 
tough willows eight to ten feet high, that slapped our faces, and 
defiled our clothing with foul-smelling marsh mud, had to be 
floundered through. Alternating with these, intervened the face 
of a precipice, the rocky bed and sides of the river, or fallen 
m timber, stumps, and blackened poles, to climb, to scramble over, 
or to dodge. No wonder that Milton and Cheadle bade adieu to 
the unkindly Myette with immense satisfaction. We had to 
cross and recross the river or parts of it seven or eight times in the 
course of the afternoon, for the trail sought low levels and 
avoided as often as possible ascending the bluffs and walls of 
rugged rock that rise sheer from the water. The middle ten 
miles of the Caledonian valley present formidable difficulties for 
a road of any kind. Four hours hard work took us over five 
miles, and by that time every one was heartily sick of it, and full 
of longing to reach Moberly's camp ; although as yet no suitable 
camping ground had offered. As we stumbled about on a patch 
recently burnt over on the south side of the river, one of his 
Indians that he had thoughfully sent back, met and guided us to 
a desolate looking spot, the best camping ground he had been 
able to find. Some little grass had sprung up on the blackened 
soil, and no one was disposed to be particular. Supper was left 
in the hands of Tim — Moberly's Indian cook — and he prepared a 
variety of delicacies that made up for all other deficiencies; 
bread light as Parisian rolls, Columbia flour being as different 



242 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

from Red River as Tim's baking from Terry's ; delicious Java 
coffee, sweetened with sugar from the Sandwich Islands, that 
now supply great part of the Pacific coast with sugar ; and crisp 
bacon, almost as great a luxury to us as pemmican to Moberly's 
men. All the hardships of the afternoon were forgotten as the 
aroma of the coffee steamed up our nostrils, and when Tim 
announced that he had oatmeal enough to make porridge for 
breakfast, our " luck " in meeting him was declared to be ' won- 
derful,' and ' Caledonian Camp ' was voted the j oiliest of our 
forty-nine. An hour after, the united party gathered round the 
kettle to drink the three Saturday night toasts, with three times 
three and one cheer more. 

Consulting Moberly about the programme for next day, he 
advised that we should move on in the morning four miles to the 
last recrossing of the river and rest there for the day ; for the 
two reasons, that by so doing we would get good feed for the 
horses, and probably fall in with the camp of his trail makers, 
who worked in advance of the surveying party. Both reasons 
were so good that the advice was taken netn. con, 

September 15. — Had the promised porridge for breakfast, 
after some more of the good bread and bacon, and found it quite 
up to our anticipations. Left the " Caledonian Camp " at eight 
A.M. for our Sabbath day's journey, and found it not much better 
than yesterday afternoon's as far as quality was concerned. As 
every one needed rest and was tired of the Myette and its 
swamps, willows, and rocks, the sight of the crossing was hailed 
with general joy, and all the more when those in front called out 
that there was a fresh trail on the other side. Sure enough, as 
Moberly had expected, the trail party had reached the river, and 
their camp was only a quarter of a mile off. Our difficulties had 
come to an end, we supposed, for there would be a reasonably good 
trail now all the way to Kamloops ; and the North Thompson 
canyons especially need no longer be dreaded. The conclusion 



THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 243 

proved to be somewhat hasty, but it cheered us at the time and 
was substantially correct. We rode up to the camp, and gave and 
received hearty greetings. An old-countryman named McCord 
was at the head of the trail party. He had pitched tents for the 
Sunday rest on a gentle incline beside the river, which flowed 
without rapids all the way from our last camp. We had been at the 
entrance of the " Yellow Head Pass " then, for though the. actual 
summit was six miles farther west than where we met McCord, 
there was little or nothing of a rise up from our last night's camp. 
The two mountains that we had seen from near the bottom of 
the valley, closing its head, now appeared as the southern peaks 
of a noble ridge that bounded the pass to the north. The nearer 
to us of the two was almost conical and the other resembled the 
frustum of a cone, serrated into a number of peaks, like a cross- 
cut saw, the big teeth in the centre and the small ones at the 
ends. These two mountains on which the snow rests the whole 
year are still nameless, strange to say. As the most pro- 
minent points on the Canadian Pacific Railway, we would 
suggest that the statesmen who have been most identified 
with the great project should have the honor of giving names 
to them. 

After a hearty lunch on pork and beans — the favourite dish of 
miners and axemen, divine service was held. The congregation 
consisted of twenty-one men, including English, Scotch, Irish, 
Indians from both sides of the Rocky Mountains, and repre- 
sentatives of all the six provinces of the Dominion. We joined 
in singing Old Hundred and in common prayer, and a sermon 
was then preached — not very short on the plea that the majority 
of the Congregation had not heard a sermon for three months. 
As usual the worship had the effect of awakening old hallowed 
associations, and making us feel united in a common sacred life. 
In the evening all hands of their own accord gathered round our 
tent to share in the family worship. 



244 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

McCord had selected his camping ground judiciously. Good 
wood, water, and pasture in his immediate neighbourhood ; a 
beautiful slope covered with tall spruce, amid which the tents 
were scattered ; an open meadow and low wooded hills to the 
Northwest round which the low line of the Pass winding in the 
same direction, could easily be made out ; and the horizon f 
bounded by a bold ridge which threw out its two great peaks 
to overhang the Pass. This was one of the most picturesque 
spots in the Caledonian Valley, combining a soft lowland and 
woodland beauty, with stern rocky masses, capped with eternal 
snow. We were 3,700 feet above the sea, but the air was soft 
and warm. Even at night it was only pleasantly cool. We were 
all delighted with this our first view of the Yellow Head Pass. 

Dinner was ordered for six o'clock and Brown set to work on 
his pemmican plum pudding in good time. It had to be made 
so large, however, that at six o'clock it required at least another 
hour's boiling. Fortunately McCord's cook, in ignorance of what 
Brown was about, had prepared at his fire a genuine old fashioned 
plum-pudding ; and full justice was done to this, till the pemmi- 
can one was ready. It was then proposed to keep it for break- 
fast, but the Dr. was impatient to put Brown's skill to the proof, 
and an hour after dinner, all gathered around our tent, to try 
the second pudding and decide on Brown's reputation. Terry 
in preparing the sauce had used salt instead of sugar, and the 
Dr. was accused of having put him up to the mistake to spoil 
the dish ; but the pudding was a decided success, though eaten 
under the great disadvantage of no one being very hungry, and 
plates were handed in for the second helping. Altogether this 
was a great day. The pleasure of meeting friends, of believing 
that our difficulties were practically at an end, the establishment 
of communication with the Pacific parties, the beauty 01 the 
prospect, the many novelties — to us luxuries of the table, the 
general good feeling, the quiet Sunday rest, the common worship, 



THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 245 

all contributed to heighten our enjoyment ; and to make us rise 
from our second plum-pudding with the plough boy's sentiment 
in our hearts if not on our lips, " I'm fu', and as thankfu'." 



CHAPTER IX. 
Yellow Head Pass to the North Thompson River, 

Plants in flower.— The water shed . —Entering British Columbia.— Source of the Frasex River. 
—Yellow Head Lute. — Serrated Peaks— Benighted- — Moose Lake.— MUton and 
Che adle— Relics of the Headless Indian.— Columbia River.— The three Mountain 
Ranges.— Horses worn out.— First canyon of the Fraser.— The Grand Forks.— Chang- 
ing locomotion power— Robson's Peak.— Fine timber.— T^te Jaune cache-— Glaciers. 
Countless Mountain Peaks.— A good trail.— Fording Canoe River. — Snow fence.— 
Camp River.— Albreda.— Mount Milton. — Rank vegetation.— Rain.— A box in V's oaohe 
for S. F— The Red Pyramid— John Glen.— The Forest— Camp Cheadle. 

September 16. — Our aim to-day was to reach Moose Lake 
where Mohun's party was surveying. The distances given us 
were ; six miles to the summit of the Pass, six thence to Yellow 
Head Lake, four along the Lake, and fourteen to Moose Lake. 
These we found to be correct except the last which is more like 
sixteen than fourteen, and unfortunately Mohun's party was near 
the west end of Moose Lake, and this added eight more, so that 
instead of thirty, we had to do forty. Besides, not having been 
informed that the second half of the trail was by far the worst, 
no extra time was allowed for it, and hence we had five hours of 
night travelling that knocked up horses and men, as much as 
or more than a double day's ordinary work would have done 
In fact, the day began well and ought to have ended well, but 
instead of that, it will always be associated in our minds with 
the drive to Oak Point from the North-west Angle on July 30th. 
Worse cannot be said of it. 

The first half of the day was more like a pleasure trip than 
work. The six miles to the summit were almost a continuous level, 
the trail following the now smooth-flowing Myette till the main 
branch turned north, and then a small branch till it too was left 
among the hills, and a few minutes after the sound of a rivulet run- 
ning in the opposite direction over a red pebbly bottom was heard. 
(246) 



*■■ ^.* 



UowW 
Pass 




YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 247 

We had left the Myette flowing to the Arctic Ocean, and now 
came upon this, the source of the Fraser hurrying to the Pacific. 
At the summit, Moberly welcomed us into British Columbia, 
for we were at length out of " No man's land," and had entered 
the western province of our Dominion. Round the rivulet run- 
ning west, the party gathered, and drank from its waters to the 
Queen and the Dominion. No incline could be rrlore gentle than 
the trail from the Atlantic and Arctic to the Pacific slope. The 
road wound round wooded banks, a meadow with heavy marsh 
grass extending to the opposite hill. There had been little or no 
frost near the summit, and flowers were in bloom that we had 
seen a month ago farther east. The flora was of the same cha- 
racter on both sides of the summit ; eight or nine kinds of wild 
berries, vetches, asters, wild honey-suckle, &c, &c. Good timber, 
the bark of which looked like hemlock, but that the men called 
pine, covered the ground for the next few miles to Yellow Head 
Lake. This beautiful sheet of water, clear and sparkling up to 
its firm pebbly beach, expanding and contracting as its shores 
recede or send out promontories, was absurdly called " Cowdung 
Lake " formerly, but ought always to bear the same name as the 
Pass. Towards the western end where we halted for dinner, its 
woods have been somewhat marred by fires that have swept the 
hill sides, but wherever these have kept off, its beauty is 
equal to, though of a different kind from Lake Jasper. Low 
wooded hills intersected with soft green and flowery glades rise 
in broken undulations from its shores. It is on those and up to 
the line of vegetation that a botanist should go ; for there are 
few varieties along the low ground, but evidently many higher 
up. Above and behind the hills on the south side, towers a 
huge pinnacle of rock, the snow on whose summit is generally 
concealed by clouds or mist. On the north, the two mountains 
that we had seen yesterday, bounding the Pass on that side, and 
which had been hidden all the forenoon by the woods at their 



248 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

base, through which the trail runs, now looked out from right 
over our heads ; riven masses of stratified rock, in a slightly- 
curved line, forming a gigantic cross-cut saw. Through the Pass, 
slate cropped out in several places, and boulders of granite strewed 
the ground, but the granite was not observed in situ. Probably, 
slate is what gold miners term "the bed rock," and Brown and 
Beaupre pointed out quartz veins that they had no doubt were 
gold bearing. 

After dinner the trail, from the nature of the soil, was so rough 
that the horses could go only at a walk of three miles an hour 
It ran either among masses of boulders, or through new woods, 
where the trees and willows had been cut away, but their sharp 
stumps remained. It was dark before we reached the east end of 
Moose Lake, and if all our party had been together, we would 
certainly have camped beside one of the many tributaries of the 
Fraser, that run down from every mountain on both sides, after it 
emerges from Yellow Head Lake, and make it a deep strong river 
before it is fifteen miles long. One of those mountain feeders that 
we crossed was an hundred feet wide, and so deep and rapid in 
two places, that the horses waded across with difficulty, and had 
almost to swim. Our company, however, was unfortunately 
separated into three parts, and no concerted action could be taken. 
Moberly and the Doctor had ridden ahead to find Mohun's Camp 
and have supper ready ; the pack-horses followed three or four 
miles behind them; and the Chief, Frank, and the Secretary were 
far in the rear, botanising and sketching. Every hour we expected 
to get to theCamp, but the road seemed endless. In the dense 
dark woods, the moon's light was very feeble, and as the horses 
were done out, we walked before or behind the poor brutes, stumb- 
ling over loose boulders, tripped up by the short sharp stumps 
and rootlets, mired in deep moss springs, wearied with climbing 
the steep ascents 01 the lake's sides, knee-sore with jolts in 
descending, dizzy and stupid from sheer fatigue and want of 



SfELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 249 

sleep. A drizzling rain had fallen in showers most of the after- 
noon, and it continued at intervals through the night ; but our 
exertions heated us so much that our clothes became as wet, on 
account of the waterproofs not allowing perspiration to evapo- 
rate, as if we had been thrown into the lake ; and thinking it 
less injurious to get wet from without than from within, we took 
off the waterproofs, and let the whole discomfort of the rain be 
added to the other discomforts of the night. The only consola- 
tion was that the full moon shone out occasionally from rifts in 
the clouds, and enabled us to pick a few steps and avoid some 
difficulties. At those times the lake appeared at our feet, glim- 
mering through the dark firs, and shut in two or three miles 
beyond by precipitous mountains, down whose sides white 
torrents were foaming, the noise of one or another of which 
sounded incessantly in our ears till the sound became hateful. 

This kind of thing lasted in the case of the three in the rear 
fully five hours. The men with the pack-horses had got in to 
camp half an hour, and Moberly and the Doctor two hours 
before them. None of us were in good humour, because we felt 
there had been stupid bungling or carelessness on the part of 
those who should have guided us, as no one would have dreamed 
of attempting such a journey if proper information had been 
given. And to crown this disastrous day, there was no feed 
about Mohun's camp, and his horses that we had expected to 
change with ours, had left a few days previously for Tete Jaune 
Cache. His men had a raft made on which to transport their 
luggage and instruments up to the east end 01 the lake, as their 
first work for to-morrow. They had completed the survey along 
the west end and centre. Our poor horses, most oi which had 
now travelled eleven hundred miles, and required rest or a 
different kind 01 work, had had a killing day of it and there was 
no grass for them. Reflecting on the situation was not pleasant, 
but a good supper of corned-beef and beans made us soon forget 



250 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

our own fatigue. After supper, at 2 P.M., wrapping dry blankets 
round our wet clothes, and spreading waterproofs over the place 
where there were fewest pools of water, we went in willingly for 
sweet sleep. 

The Doctor had completely forgotten his fatigue before our 
arrival under the influence of a present of the spoon and fishing 
line of Milton and Cheadle's " Headless Indian." One of the 
packers had found the skeleton, and had also found the head 
lying under a fallen tree, a hundred and fifty yards from the 
body. As the body could not have walked away and sat down 
minus the head, the explanation of the packers was that the 
Assiniboine on his unsuccessful hunt for game had killed and 
eaten the Shuswap, and turned the affair into a mystery by hiding 
his head. Poor Mr. O'B., of whom we heard enough at Edmon- 
ton to prove that his portraiture is faithfully given in " the 
North-west Passage by land," will accept this solution of the 
mystery if no one else will. The Doctor put the old horn spoon, 
and the fishing line — a strong native hemp line, among his 
choicest treasures, and took minute notes of the position of the 
grave that he might dig up the head. 

The two descriptions in Milton and Cheadle that have been 
generally considered apocryphal, and that have discredited the 
whole book to many readers, are those concerning Mr. O'B., 
and ' the headless Indian.' Not only did we find both verified, 
but the accounts of the country and the tale of their own diffi- 
culties are as truthfully and simply given as it was possible for 
men who travelled in a strange country, chiefly in quest of 
adventures that they intended to publish, and who naturally 
wished to get items with colour for their book. The pluck that 
made them conceive, and the vastly greater pluck that enabled 
them to pull through such an expedition was of the truest 
British kind. They were more indebted than they perhaps knew 
as far as " Slaughter Camp," to the trail of the Canadians who 






r 







YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 25 1 

had preceded them, on their way to Cariboo ; but from that 
point, down the frighful and unexplored valley of the North 
Thompson, the journey had to be faced on their own totally 
inadequate resources. Had they but known it, they were beaten 
as completely as by the rules of war the British troops were 
at Waterloo. They should have submitted to " the inevitable " 
and starved. But luckily for themselves and for their readers, 
they did not know it ; and thanks to Mrs. Assiniboine, and their 
own intelligent hardihood that kept them from giving in even 
for an instant, they succeeded where by all the laws of probabili- 
ties they ought to have disastrously failed. 

We had now crossed the first range of the Rocky Mountains, 
and were on the Pacific slope, on the banks of a river that runs 
into the Pacific Ocean. One or two of our party seemed to 
think that difficulties were therefore at an end ; that all that 
had to be done now was to follow the Fraser to its mouth, as so 
great a river would be sure to find the easiest course to the sea. 
A party of gentlemen ignorant of the geography of the country 
and deserted by their guides, in endeavouring to cross the 
Rocky Mountains a few years ago farther south, argued simi- 
larly when they struck the Columbia river. 'So great a river 
cannot go wrong : its course must be the best ; let us follow it to 
the sea/ And they did follow its northerly sweep round the 
Kootanie or Selkirk range, for one or two hundred miles, till 
inextricably entangled among fallen timber, and cedar swamps, 
they resolved to kill their horses, make rafts or canoes, and trust 
to the river. Had they carried this plan out, they would have 
perished, for no raft or canoe can get through the terrible canyons 
of the Columbia. But fortunately two Shuswap Indians came 
upon them at this juncture, and though not speaking a word that 
they knew, made them understand by signs, that their only safety 
was in retracing their steps, and by getting round the head waters 
of the Columbia, reach Fort Colville by theKootanie Pass. 



252 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

Just as the Columbia has to sweep in a great loop round the 
Selkirk range, so in exactly a similar way farther north or north- 
west, has the Fraser to loop round the Gold range. Those two 
ranges may be considered one, with a gap or long break in it 
between the northern bend of the Columbia and the point called 
" Tete Jaune Cache " where the Fraser has to turn to the north- 
It is evident then that the true course for a traveller, from 
Yellow Head Pass to the west, since he cannot cross the Gold 
Mountains, which stretch in line across his direct path, is to turn 
south east a little, try for a road by this gap, and overcome the 
Gold Mountains by flanking them. 

The reader must understand, that although there are many 
cross-sections and subdivisions of the Rocky Mountains called 
by different names, there are three main ranges that have to be 
traversed in going to the Pacific. In the United States and 
Mexico these ranges bear different, but all well known names. 
As compared with the mountains farther north, two points may 
be noted concerning them. First, that they are not cloven by 
river passes. A Railway therefore has to climb to the high 
plateau that is nearly as high as the summits. Secondly, that they 
stretch, especially in the United States, over a far greater extent 
of country from east to west than is the case in British America. 

Our three ranges are the Rocky Mountains proper ; the Selkirk 
and Gold, which may be considered one ; and the coast range or 
Cascades. The passage from the east through the first range, is 
up the valley of the Athabasca and the Myette, and we have 
seen how easy it is, especially for a Railway. The average 
height of the mountains above the sea, is nine thousand feet ; 
but the Yellow Head Pass is only three thousand seven hundred 
feet. On each side of the valley are mountains that act as 
natural snow-sheds. 

The next question is, are there similar valleys and passes 
through the other two ranges ? Yes, but not so direct and broad, 



YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 253 

and there are many obstacles to be overcome. How to get 
through the second range has always been considered the great 
difficulty. 

First, we have to get to it from Yellow Head Pass. This is 
done by following the Fraser, as we did to day to Moose Lake, 
and as we shall to-morrow, to Tete Jaune Cache. There we 
expect to see the Gold range stretching in unbroken line before 
us, forcing the Fraser far to the north, and us somewhat to the 
south east and then the south. Oh ! for a direct cut through to 
the Cariboo gold fields like that which the Athabasca cleaves 
the Rocky Mountains with ! Search for such a Pass has not 
been given up, and even though no Pass be found, there is 
hope that a short tunnel may yet "cut the knot," and solve 
all difficulties. But in the mean time our only course from 
Tete Jaune Cache, will be to slip in between the Gold and 
Selkirk ranges till we strike the North Thompson, and continue 
the flanking process, by going down its banks southerly till we 
get to Kamloops at the junction of the North and South Thom- 
son, where we can recommence our westerly course, along the 
comparatively low lying plateau, extending between the second 
range, and the third called the Cascades. 

September 17. — We are now in the heart of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, between the first and second great ranges, nearly a day's 
journey on from Yellow Head Pass, with jaded horses, and a 
trail so heavy that fresh horses cannot be expected to average 
more than twenty miles of travel per day. 

This morning the consequences of last night's toil and trouble 
showed plainly by a multitude of signs. Breakfasted at 9 A.M.^ 
started from Moose Lake Camp at midday, and crawled ahead 
about four miles, the horses lifting their feet so spiritlessly that at 
every step we feared they would give out wholly. At an open 
glade here, the feed was pretty good, though cropped closely by 
the dozen horned cattle, kept for the purpose of furnishing fresh 



254 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

beef for Mohun's party, and it was decided that it would be wise 
to camp. 

The delay was not lost time, however vexatious the mismana- 
gement that necessitated it. The Chief had to receive reports 
about all that had been done by the engineers in this quarter, 
inspect the line of survey and the drawings that had been made ; 
and give instructions not only for Moberly's parties, but through 
him for others. Besides, all of us needed a long night's rest, and 
a big fire to dry our clothes and blankets at before going farther. 
For assurances were volunteered all round that we had a full 
fortnight of no holiday travel before reaching Kamloops. 

Mohun accompanied us until we should fall in with the pack- 
train on its way up from the Cache, in order to arrange about 
an exchange of our jaded and unshod horses for others fresh and 
shod. 

Moose Lake that we struck last night but only got a tolerable 
view of to day, is a beautiful sheet of water, ten or eleven miles 
long, by three wide. It receives the Fraser, already a deep strong 
river fully a hundred and fifty feet wide, and also drains high 
mountains that enclose it on the north and south. The survey for 
the Railway is proceeding along the north side, where the bluffs 
though high appeared not so sheer as on the south. The hill- 
sides and the country beyond support a growth ot splendid spruce, 
black-pine, and Douglas fir, some of the spruce the finest any 
of us had ever seen. So far in our descent from the Pass, the 
difficulties in the way of railroad construction are not formidable 
nor the grades likely to be heavy. Still the work that the 
surveyors are engaged on requires a patience, hardihood, and 
lorethought that few who ride in Pullman cars on the road in 
after years will ever appreciate. 

September 18th. — Got away from camp at 8 o'clock. Soon 
after, struck the Fraser, rushing green and foaming through a 
narrow valley, closed in by high steep rocks wooded beneath, 



YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 255 

and bare from half-way up. As we advanced, a change in the 
vegetation, marking the Pacific slope, began to show distinctly. 
The lighter green of cypress mingled with the darker woods till 
it predominated, — white birch and small maples also coming in. 
Our jaded horses walked quietly along, at the two-and-a-half 
miles per hour step, on a trail heavy in the best places, across 
mountain streams rushing down to join the Fraser the worst of 
them roughly bridged with logs and spruce boughs ; around pre- 
cipitous bluffs and hills, and through mud-holes sprinkled heavily 
with boulders. Frequently we came on the stakes of the sur- 
veying party who had used the trail where there was but one 
possible course for any road. After travelling nine miles Mohun 
invited us to tie our horses to the trees, and go down two hundred 
yards to see the first canyon of the Fraser. A canyon is simply 
a mountain gorge in which the river is obliged to contract itself, 
by high rocks closing it in on both sides. A river, however, is 
not needed to form a canyon ; for walled rocks, enclosing a 
narrow waterless valley constitute a canyon. At this first canyon, 
the rocks closed in the river for some hundred yards to a width 
of eight feet, so that a man could jump across. Down this 
narrow passage, the whole of the water of the river rushed,. 
— a resistless current, slipping in great green masses from ledge 
to ledge, smashing against out-jutting rocks, eddying round 
stony barriers till it got through the long gate-way. In 
some places these canyons are merely rocks near the stream ; in 
others they are bluffs extending far back, or perhaps one great 
bluff that had formerly stretched across the river's bed, and had 
been riven asunder. In either case, they present formidable 
obstacles to railroad construction. 

A mile beyond, we came to the " Grand Fork of the Fraser, '* 
where the main stream receives from the north-east, a tributary 
important enough to be considered one its sources. It flows in 
three great divisions, through a meadow two miles wide, from 



256 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

round the bases of Robson's Peak, — the monarch of the moun- 
tains hereabouts, and his only less mighty satellites whose pyra- 
midal forms cluster in his rear. A mile from the first division, 
we came to the second, and found the first section of Mohun's 
pack-train in the act of crossing it towards us. This first section 
consisted of horses ; and the second of mules led by a bell horse, 
under the supervision of Leitch, the chief packer, followed a mile 
behind. A general halt was called, and Leitch sent for. No 
difficulty was found in making new arrangements. He gave us 
four fresh pack horses which would now be sufficient for our 
wants, five saddle horses, and two packers, and took all our 
horses, and Brown, Beaupre, and Valad to help him — Valad being 
specially entrusted with the duty of taking back six horses of 
the Hudson Bay that were among ours. This was an entire 
reorganization, and again Terry was the only one of the old set 
that remained with us. He wished to go on to Cariboo and 
make his fortune at the mines there. A vision of gold nuggets, 
picked up as easily as diamonds and rubies in Arizona, more 
than any sentimental attachment to us was at the root of his 
stedfastness. But it grieved all to part from the other three, 
and they seemed equally reluctant to turn their backs on us. 
Beaupre's only consolation was that he would get pemmican 
again, for he declared that life without pemmican was nothing but 
vanity ; and we had made the huge mistake of exchanging our 
pemmican with McCord for pork. The next day and every day 
after we rued the bargain, but it was too late. Beaupre and Valad 
had suffered grievously in body from the change, and for an 
entire day had been almost useless.The Doctor was reduced prac- 
tically to two meals a day, for he could not stand fat pork three 
times. Indeed all, with the single exception of Brown, lamented 
at every meal, as they picked delicately at the coarse pork, the 
folly of forsaking that which had been so true a stand by for 
three weeks. The Chief gave Brown and Beaupre letters to 



YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 257 

Moberly, the latter having returned to the Jasper valley two days 
ago. In now taking leave of these fine fellows, it is with the hope 
that they may be entrusted with positions in which they will be 
able to exercise their good qualities in the service of the country. 
Valad made his adieus, and received the gratuity that the Chief 
gave him, with a dignity that only an Indian or a gentleman of 
the old school could manifest. And so exeunt, Brown, Beaupre 
and Valad. 

It was only two P.M. when Leitch came up ; but his horses 
had been travelling all day, and as we were in a good place for 
feed and for our own dinner, he advised that camp should be 
pitched, and no movement onward made till the morrow, as 
time would really be gained by the delay. This was agreed to, the 
more readily because the Chief had further instructions to write 
and send back by Mohun, and because the clouds that had been 
floating over the tops of the hills all day, and obscuring the lofty 
glacier cone of Robson's Peak, began to close in and empty 
themselves. Looking west down the valley of the Fraser, the 
narrow pass suddenly filled with rolling billows of mist. On they 
came, curling over the rocky summits, rolling down to the forests, 
enveloping everything in their fleecy mantles. Out of them 
came great gusts of wind that nearly blew away our fires and 
tents ; and after the gusts, the rain in smart showers. Once or 
twice the sun broke through, revealing the hill sides, all their 
autumn tints fresh and glistening after the rain, and the line of 
their summits near, and bold against the sky ; all, except 
Robson's Peak which showed its huge shoulders covered with 
masses of snow, but on whose high head masses of clouds ever 
rested. 

Brown made us a plum cake for tea, and in honor of the 

occasion, a tin of currant jam that had been put up to be eaten 

with mutton, if bighorn were shot, was produced. On being 

opened, it turned out to be only tomatoes, to our great disap- 

Q 



11 



258 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

pointment, but still it was a variety from the routine fare, and 
relished accordingly. 

Sept. 19th. — It rained during the night and the morning looked 
grey and heavy with clouds ; but the sun shone before eleven 
o'clock, and the day turned out the finest since crossing the Yel- 
low Head Pass. At 7.30 A.M. got off from the camp, giving a last 
cheer to Brown, Beaupre, and Valad ; and casting many a 
longing look behind to see if Robson's Peak would show its 
bright head to us. But only the snow-ribbed giant sides were 
visible, for the clouds still rested far down from the summit. 
Three miles from camp, beside the river, at a place called 
" Mountain view," his great companions stood out from around 
him ; but he remained hidden, and reluctantly we had to go on, 
without being as fortunate as Milton and Cheadle. 

Our new horses were in prime condition ; but the road for the 
first eleven miles was extremely difficult ; and last night's rain 
had made it worse. The trail follows down the Fraser to " Tete 
Jaune Cache," when it leaves the river and turns south-east to go 
to the North Thompson, at right angles to the main course we 
had followed since entering the Caledonian Valley. The Fraser 
at the same point changes its westerly ior a northerly course, 
rushing like a race horse, for hundreds of miles north, when it 
sweeps round and comes south to receive the united waters of 
the North and South Thompson, before cutting through the 
Cascade Range and emptying into the ocean. Tete Jaune Cache 
is thus a great centre point. From it the valley of the Fraser 
extends to the north, and the same valley extends south by the 
banks of the Cranberry and of the Canoe Rivers to the head of 
theColumbia, — a continuous valley being thus formed parallel to 
the East range of the Rocky Mountains, and separating them 
from the Gold and Selkirk ranges. 

Our first " spell " to-day was eleven miles over a road so heavy 
that it cost our fresh horses three and a half hours tough work. 



YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 259 

It hugged the banks of the river closely, passing through timber 
of the finest kind — spruce, hemlock, cedar, (a different variety 
from the white or red cedar in the eastern provinces) white birch 
and Douglas fir. Small maples, Mountain ash, and other 
varieties also showed. An old Iroquois hunter, known in his 
time as Tete Jaune or Yellow Head, probably from the notice- 
able fact in an Indian of his hair being light coloured, had wisely 
selected this central point for caching all the furs he got in the 
course of a season on the Pacific slope, before setting out with 
them to trade at Jasper House. He has given his soubriquet 
forever, not only to the Cache, but to the Pass and the Lake at 
the summit. Two or three miles to the east is a roaring linn 
of the Fraser with a fall of from fourteen to twenty feet ; but 
we did not go off the road to see it. At the Cache, lofty, 
glacier clothed mountains rose in all directions up and down the 
valley of the Fraser, the Cranberry, and the Canoe — enough peaks 
to hand down to posterity the names of all aspiring travellers 
and their friends for the next century. The Gold Mountains 
formed in unbroken line right across our path, forbidding any 
further progress west, and forcing us to go south-east to flank 
them, as they forced the Fraser to the north. To our great comfort 
there is stationed at the Cache a large boat of the C. P. R. S. 
and into it were pitched saddles and packs, and we rowed our- 
selves across while the horses swam. The Fraser, at this early 
stage of its course, is as broad and strong as the Athabasca below 
the Jasper valley. As the packs were off the horses, we halted 
for dinner, and at one o'clock were on our way again, "hustling '* 
at a great rate to make up for the slow progress of the last two 
days. Jack and Joe, our new packers proved to be no idlers. 
The one was a New Bruswicker who had spent years among the 
Rocky Mountains, chiefly in the United States ; the other an 
Ontarian, settled in British Columbia, — both sharp, active fellows, 
knowing a good deal of human and still more of horse nature. 



260 OCEAN TO OCEAN 

Our second " spell " was twenty miles, south-east and south 
to the crossing of the Canoe River. The trail here was in 
excellent condition, and for great part of the way a buggy might 
have been driven on it. A sandy ridge like a hog's-back runs 
up the east side of the valley of the Cranberry, and the trail is 
along it's top. This valley is the connecting link between the 
Fraser and Canoe rivers. The valley of the Canoe is the larger 
link again, extending to " Boat encampment " at the northern end 
of the valley of the Columbia. The black pines on the ridge are* 
so well apart that there is no difficulty in diverging from the trail, 
and going in different directions. Before us, as we journeyed south 
with a little easting, snowy peaks rose on each side of the wide 
valley, dwarfing it, in appearance, to an extremely narrow width ; 
while right ahead a great mountain mass that marked the begin- 
ning of the main valley of the Canoe, seemed to close our way. 
The trees struggled far up the sides, fighting a battle with the 
bare rocks and the snows, — the highest trees heavily dusted with 
last night's snowfall. Crossing a little stream called the McLen- 
nan that issues from a pass in the side hills, we rounded Cran- 
berry Lake and saw the valley of the Canoe stretching far up in 
the direction we had been going, while our road was across the 
river and up the dividing line S.S. W. to Albreda Lake and 
River, flowing into the Thompson. 

Although only five o'clock, the sun was now setting behind 
the mountains to the west from which the Canoe issues, and the 
road here was heavy with recent rainfall, boulders, and mud- 
holes, so that there was no use of pushing on much farther. At 
the " Crossing" of the Canoe, there was a raft on the other side, 
but as the river had fallen two feet in the course of the day, we 
tried the ford and found it quite practicable, — the water not 
coming much higher than the horses' shoulders ; so that the 
" Crossing " which had so nearly cost Lord Milton and Mrs. 
Assiniboine their lives did not delay us ten minutes. 



YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 26 1 

The rapidity with which these mountain torrents increase or 
decrease in depth is an astonishing feature to those who have 
been accustomed only to Lowland rivers. A warm day melts 
the snows high up, and there is an increase in depth by the after- 
noon, of from six inches to two or three feet. A cold night succeeds, 
and down the stream falls by morning. That the Canoe had 
fallen during the day, was proof th„t though warm in the valley, 
the air was cold in the mountains. This is pretty much the 
state of matters as regards weather all through the winters here. 
The high mountains not only protect the valleys from much of the 
cold, but also from much of the snow. They act as natural snow 
fences. As the sun had now disappeared, though his light still 
shone on the double range of high peaks stretching away down 
the Canoe, camp was pitched on the other side of the river, Jack 
and Joe proving themselves as expeditious and obliging as even 
Brown and Beaupre. It was amusing to listen to the slang 
terms of the Pacific that garnished their talk. " Spell " we found 
had crossed the mountains, and " spelling place " and a " good 
spell " were as common on the one side as the other. But Jack's 
call to his horses was new to us. " Git " probably the abbreviated 
form of our " get up, " and Terry's " git up out o' that," was the 
only cry ever addressed to them, and the sound of it would 
quicken their walk into a trot when no other words in the lan- 
guage would have the slightest effect. This transatlantic senten- 
tiousness and love of abbreviations, from which come their " Sabre 
cuts of Saxon speech " characterized all their conversation. With- 
out intending the faintest disrespect, they addressed the Doctor 
always as " Doc." " Good morning Doc, " meant no more than 
" good morning my Lord " would mean. Even the grandeur of 
the mountains did not secure to them their name in full. " They 
call them ' the Rockies/ " said Jack, jerking his head in their 
direction, with an air that indicated that no further information 
was required about such things. Every adjective and article that 



262 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

could, in afiy way, be dispensed with was rejected from their 
English ; and if syllables could be lopped off long words so as to 
bring them down to one syllable, the axe was unsparingly 
applied. Thus, San Fransiseo was always " Frisco," and Captain 
— a name applied indiscriminately to every stranger — never 
longer than " Cap." 

September 20th. — Up early this morning and, after breakfast 
on bread and pork — very unlike Irish pork — for not a solitary 
streak of lean relieved the fat, got away at 6.30 A.M., before the 
sun had looked out over the mountains. From our camp a 
singular radiation of valleys could be observed. That of the 
Canoe ran almost north and south, inclining more to the west up 
stream. Between the west and south, the valley of one of its 
tributaries joined it. Along this tributary called the Camp 
River — from the fact of one of the surveying parties wintering 
on it last year — our course was to be to-day. Between the east 
and north the valley of the Cranberry, along which we had 
travelled yesterday afternoon, extended away to the Fraser. 

Our aim to-day was to reach the North Thompson. Between 
our camp and it, thirty-three miles of bad road had to be 
travelled. 

Broad gravel benches, supporting a growth of small black 
pines, rose one above another like terraces, the highest attaining 
a height of four or five hundred feet. Up these the trail led, 
heading across to Camp River. Similar benches of sand or 
gravel, or of sand mixed with boulders are a characteristic of all 
the rivers in British Columbia. They are distinctly defined as 
the successive banks of the smallest as well as of the largest 
rivers. Those along the Canoe, are so extensive as to show that 
a much greater volume of water once flowed over or rested in 
the valley. It may be that the Columbia, before the present 
canyons through which it now runs to the south were riven, 
flowed thus far or farther north. 



YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 263 

It seemed to us a great mistake that the old Indian trail 
had not been abandoned here, and a new trail made. The 
terraces are so steep and high, and the descent on the other 
side to the valley of Camp River so sudden, that the only- 
explanation we could suggest of the trail facing up and down 
instead of rounding them, was that Tete Jaune had first made 
it when chasing a chamois or bighorn, and that he and all others 
thereafter, McCord's party included, were too conservative to 
look for another and better way. 

At the summit of the divide, Camp River flows opposite ways 
from the two ends of a sluggish lake, the part that runs down to 
the Thompson assuming the name of the Albreda. The valley 
is narrow and closed in at its south-west end by the great mass 
of Mount Milton which fronted us the whole day. This mountain 
that Dr. Cheadle selected to bear the name of his fellow traveller 
is a mass of snow-clad peaks that feed the little Albreda with 
scores of torrents, ice-cold and green coloured, and make it into 
a river of considerable magnitude before it flows into the Thomp- 
son. It is on the south of the Albreda and not on the north as 
stated by them, and the trail winds round its right or north side 
leaving it on the left. Soon after entering the valley of Camp 
River we saw it before us, towering high above the hills that 
enclosed the narrow valley, and seeming to bar our further 
progress to the south and south-west. A semi-circle of five 
peaks, enclosing a snowy bosom, forms the left side ; and, next to 
these, four much higher rise, the highest and largest in the centre 
showing a broad front of snow like a field, inclined down till 
hidden by a forest of dark firs on a range of lower hills. Our 
road which at first was up the narrow fire-desolated, stony valley, 
led next round the base of these lower hills, and from the differ- 
ence of soil and of elevation, changed from a succession of bare, 
stony ridgeb, into a succession of mud-holes and torrents — 
bridged, fortunately for us, by the trail party — till we came to 



264 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

the first crossing of the Albreda. The timber here was of the 
largest size, but many of the noblest looking cedars, were 
evidently not of much worth from internal decay. It was after 
sunset when we passed over the wooded slopes and along the 
banks of the river, and as the dark forest opened here and there, 
one white peak after another came out through a broad rift in the 
wooded hills. The underbrush consisted chiefly of a great 
variety of ferns of all sizes, from the tiniest to clusters six feet 
high, or of the broad aralea which so monopolized all light and 
moisture where it grew that there was no chance for grass. 
In some marshes a water-lily, with leaves three feet long, in 
seed at this season, hid the water as completely as the aralea 
the ground. Everything on this side of the mountains is on a 
large scale, — the mountains themselves, the timber, the leaves, 
ferns, etc. 

It was still eight miles to the crossing of of the Thompson. 
Since starting in the morning we had halted only once, and yet 
had made barely twenty-five miles. But as the fast gathering 
darkness, twice as deep too because of the forest, compelled 
it, our fifty-fifth camp from Lake Superior was pitched beside the 
Albreda. 

September 21st. — Up this morning at 4.30, in the dark, and 
on the road two hours later. The days were now so short, 
because of the season of the year and the mountain-limited 
horizon, that as it was impossible to travel on the trail after night- 
fall, the most had to be made of the sunlight 

The trail for the first eight miles was as bad as well could be, 
although a great amount of honest work had been expended on 
it. Before McCord had come through, it must have been simply 
impassable except for an Indian on foot, — worse than when 
Milton and Cheadle forced through with their one pack-horse at 
the rate of three miles a day ; for the large Canadian party had 
immediately preceded them, whereas no one attempted to follow 



YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 265, 

in their steps till McLellan in 1871, and in the intervening nine 
years much of the trail had been buried out of sight, or hope- 
lesly blocked up by masses of timber, torrents, landslides, or 
debris. Our horses, however, proved equal to the work. Even 
when their feet entangled in a network of fibrous roots or sunk 
eighteen inches in a mixture of bog and clay, they would make 
gallant attemps at trotting ; and by slipping over rocks, jumping 
fallen trees, breasting precipitous ascents with a rush, and 
recklessly dashing down the hills, the eight miles to the crossing 
of the Thompson were made in three hours. 

The early morning was dark and lowering, and at eight o'clock 
a drizzle commenced which continued all the forenoon. Strug- 
gling through sombre woods and heavy underbush, every spray 
of which discharges its little accumulation of rain on the weary 
traveller as he passes on, is disheartening and exhausting 
work. The influence of the rain on men and horses is most 
depressing. The riders get as fatigued as the horses ; for jumping 
on and off at the bogs, precipices, and boulder slides thirty or 
forty times a day is as tiresome as a circus performance must 
be to the actors. 

We crossed the Thompson at a point where it divides into 
three, the smallest of the three sections being bridged with long 
logs, the two others, broad and only "belly deep," as Jack 
phrased it. Riding down the west side, too wet and tired to 
notice anything, the men in advance passed a blazed tree with 
a piece of paper pinned to the blaze ; but the Secretary, being 
on foot, turned aside to look ; and read, — 
" In V's Cache 
There is a box for S. Fleming 
or M. Smith." 

He at once called out the good news, and V's Cache in the 
shape of a small log shanty was found hard by. Jack unroofed 
it in a trice and jumped in ; and among other things, stored for 



266 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

different engineering parties, was the " box." A stone broke it 
open, and as Jack handed out the contents, one by one, a general 
shout announced their nature. — Candles and canned meats ; 
good. "Hooray," from the rear! Two bottles of Worcester sauce 
and a bottle of brandy ! better ; sauce both for the fat pork and 
for the plum-pudding next Sunday. Half a dozen of Bass' Pale 
Ale, with the familiar face of the red pyramid brand! Three times 
three and one cheer more! After this crowning mercy, more canned 
meats, jams, and a few bottles of claret evoked but faint applause. 
The wine and jams were put back again for Mr. Smith. Four 
bottles of the ale, a can of the preserved beef, and another of 
peaches were opened on the spot, and Terry producing bread 
from the kitchen sack, an impromptu lunch was eaten round the 
Cache, and V's health drank as enthusiastically as if he had 
been the greatest benefactor of his species. As the finale, we 
deposited the empty bottles and cans at the foot of the blazed 
tree, and wrote our acknowledgments, — 

" Gratefully received 
The above ; 
Vide infra." 

On one side, "God bless V!" and on the other, "Si vis monumen- 
ticm, despice" and decorating the paper with red and blue pencil 
marks as elaborately as time and our limited resources permitted, 
we rode off with merry hearts, the rain ceasing and the sun shin- 
ing out at the same time as if to be in unison with our feelings. 
Is it necessary here to implore the ascetic and the dignified 
reader to be a little kind to this ebullition on our part? It was 
childish, perhaps, but then what were we but "babe% in the wood?" 
Circumstances alter cases ; and our circumstances were peculiar. 
We would have gushed over a mere "bowing" acquaintance, 
had he come upon us in that inhospitable valley, those melancholy 
woods, under those rainy skies. Probably we might have fallen on 



YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 267 

the neck and wept over an old friend. Is it wonderful that the "red 
pyramid" looked so kindly, and touched a chord in our hearts? 

Two miles farther on, the sound of a bell was heard. Jack 
said that it must be the bell-horse of another pack-train ; but in 
a few minutes a solitary traveller, walking beside his two laden 
horses, emerged from the woods ahead. He turned out to be 
one John Glen — a miner on his way to prospect for gold on 
hitherto untried mountains and sand-bars. Here was a specimen 
of Anglo-Saxon self reliant individualism more striking than 
that pictured by Quinet of the American settler, without priest 
or captain at his head, going out into the deep woods or virgin 
lands of the new continent to find and found a home. John 
Glen calculated that there was as good gold in the mountains 
as had yet come out of them, and that he might strike a new 
bar or gulch, that would "pan out" as richly as "Williams Creek" 
Cariboo; so putting blankets and bacon, flour and frying-pan, 
shining pickaxe and shovel on his horses, and sticking revolver 
and knife in his waist, off he started from Kamloops to seek 
"fresh fields and pastures new." Nothing to him was lack of 
company or of newspapers ; short days and approach of winter ; 
seas of mountains and grassless valleys, equally inhospitable; 
risk of sickness and certainty of storms; slow and exhausting 
travel through marsh and muskeg, across roaring mountain torrents 
and miles of fallen timber; lonely days and lonely nights; — if 
he found gold he would be repaid. Prospecting was his business, 
and he went about it in simple matter-of-course style, as if he 
were doing business 'on change.' John Glen was to us a typical 
man, the modern missionary, the martyr for gold, the advance 
guard of the army of material progress. And who will deny or 
make light of his virtue, his faith, such as it was? His self 
reliance, surely, was sublime. Compared to his, how small the 
daring and pluck of even Milton and Cheadle? God save thee, 
John Glen! and give thee thy reward! 



268 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

Glen was more than a moral to us. He brought the Chief a 
letter from the Hudson Bay agent at Kamloops, of date August 
24th, informing him that our personal luggage from Toronto 
via San Francisco had arrived, and would be kept for us. This 
was another bit of good fortune to mark the day. 

In hopes of getting to Cranberry marsh, twenty-two miles 
down from the crossing, we pushed on without giving the horses 
any rest except the lunch half-hour at V's Cache; but the roads 
were so heavy that when within four miles of the marsh the 
packers advised camping. The horses continued to go with 
spirit ; but the long strain was telling on them, and they had to 
be our first consideration. The road had seemed to us — if 
not to the horses — to improve from V's Cache ; but it was still 
a " hard road to travel, " the valley of the Thompson being 
almost as bad as the valley of the Albreda. In our eighteen 
miles along it to-day, there was not a mile of level. It was 
constant up and down, as if we were riding over billows. 
Even where the ground was low, the cradle hills were high 
enough to make the road undulating. The valley of the Thompson 
is very narrow for a stream of its magnitude ; in fact it may 
more fitly be called a mountain gorge than a valley. Only at 
rare intervals is there a bit of flat or meadow or even marsh 
along its banks. High wooded hills rise on each side ; and, 
beyond these, a higher range of snowy peaks, one or another of 
the highest of which peeps over the woods at turns of the river, 
or when the forest through which you are toiling opens a little 
to enable you to see. The forest is of the grandest kind — not 
only the living but the dead ; for everywhere around, lie the 
prostrate forms of old giants, in every stage of decay, some of 
them six to eight feet through, and an hundred and fifty to two 
hundred feet in length. Scarcely half-hiding these, are broad 
leaved plants and ferns in infinite variety, while the branchless 
columnal shafts of more modern cedars tower far up among the 



YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 269 

dark branches of spruce and hemlock, dwarfing the horse and 
his rider, that creep along across their interlaced roots and the 
mouldering bones of their great predecessors. 

It was not quite five o'clock when we camped ; but the sun 
had set in the narrow valley, and it was quite dark before the 
horses had been driven to the nearest feed, and the tent put in 
order for the night Terry set to work as usual to hurry up the 
tea ; but, to his and our dismay there was no tea kettle. It had 
fallen by the way from the pack to which it was tied. Jack 
was sure he had seen it on, four miles back ; but as " Nulla 
vestigia retrorsum " was our motto, whatever the loss sustained, 
.no one proposed to turn back and look for it ; and our only other 
pot, — the one used for pork and porridge boiling and all other 
purposes was laid under requisition for the tea. The two frying 
pans had also had their handles twisted off ; but Joe tied the 
two handles together and made a pair of pincers out of them 
that would lift one ; and Terry notched a crooked stick and 
made a handle for the other. Supper was prepared with these 
extemporised utensils. The Doctor and Frank fried slap-jacks 
and then boiled canned goose in the one pan. Terry fried pork 
in the other ; and boiled dried apples in the pot before making 
the tea in it. The Chief and the Secretary assisted with bland 
smiles and words of encouragement, and by throwing a few chips 
on the fire occasionally ; and a jolly supper, between the open 
tent and the roaring fire, was the grand finale. 

September 22nd. — The first meal this morning, there being 
only one pot, was a plate of porridge, eaten at 8.30 A.M., after 
a dip in the ice cold Thompson. Two hours after Terry 
announced dejeuner d la fourchette. The Doctor and Frank 
roused themselves from their second sleep to enjoy it ; but Jack 
was absent. Not taking kindly to the porridge, he had gone 
off without saying a word, in search of the missing kettle, and 
service was postponed till his return. \ 



270 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

Looking round at the site of our camp, we could see nothing 
on our own side of the river but a willow thicket, and the dense 
forest rising beyond. On the other side, and up stream, a snow- 
clad, round topped mountain looked over the lower hills. Four 
or five miles down stream a lofty pyramid showed us its snowy 
face, with a twin peak a little to the south, and a great shoulder 
also snow-covered, extending farther beyond in the same direc- 
tion. This 'biceps Parnassus' we inferred was Mount Cheadle, 
and in honor of the man the camp was dubbed 'Camp Cheadle.' 

Before mid-day Jack returned in triumph with the tea kettle — 
which he had found less than four miles back — slung across his 
shoulders. A cup of tea was at once made in it for him as reward. 
The Dr. now prepared the pudding, and when it was deposited 
in the pot for its three hours boil, the bell was rung for divine 
service. 

Just as the Secretary commenced, the pot to the dismay of 
every one tumbled over. Half-a-dozen hands were instinctively 
stretched out, but Terry put it right, with the coolness of a 
veteran, and the service proceeded with no more trouble, except 
that gusts of wind blew the smoke into our eyes, making Jack 
in particular weep enough to gratify any preacher. 

Dinner was ordered for four o'clock, and it need hardly be 
said, the pudding was»a success. It rolled from the bag on to 
the plate, in the most approved fashion of oblong or rotund 
puddings. The Dr. garnished it with six ferns for the six 
Provinces of the Dominion. The Chief produced V's brandy, 
poured some over the pudding and applying a match, it was set 
on the table in a blaze of blue light, that gladdened every one 
with old memories. 

Before sunset, the wind had blown away the clouds and the 
snowy mist that had been falling up on the mountains. When 
it was dark the stars came out in a clear sky, promising fine 
weather on the morrow. After some general talk and calcula- 



YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 27 r 

tions as to whether we could get to Kamloops for next Sunday, 
in which hope weighed down the heaviest improbabilities, all 
gathered round the hearthstone fire for family worship. It was 
the time that we always felt most solemnized ; thankful to God 
for his goodness to us, praying His mercy for our far away 
homes, and drawn to one another by the thought that we were 
in the wilderness, with common needs, and entirely dependent on 
God and each other. 



CHAPTER X. 

Along the North Thompson River to Kamloops. 

Breakfast by Moonlight'— The Bell-horse.— Mount Cheadle.— Blue River and Mountains. 
— Goose Creek.— The Headless Indian.— Porcupine Breakfast.— The Canyon.— Mule 
Train.— At Hell Gate, meet friends.— Gathering at Camps U. and V.— Good cheer.— 
Still water.— Round Prairie.— Exciting news two months old.— Change in the Flora. 
—Bunch Grass.— Raft River.— Clearwater.— Boat to Kamloops.— Assineboine Bluff. 
—Last night under canvass.— Siwash Houses.— Signs of Civilization.— Stock Raising. 
—Wages in British Columbia.— Arid aspect of country.— Darkness on the river.— 
Arrival at Kamloops. 

September 23rd. — Jack rose this morning at 3 A.M., and 
made up the fire by kicking the embers together and piling on 
more wood. In a quarter of an hour after, all hands were up — 
folding blankets, and packing. We breakfasted by moonlight, and 
would have been off by five, but two of the horses had wandered 
and it was some time before they were found. Jack tracked 
them to an island in the river and had to wade across for them. 
Notwithstanding the delay we left camp at 5.45 A.M. 

This was the first occasion on which any of the horses had 
strayed even a short distance away from the bell. They had 
always kept within sound of it on the journey and during the 
night. The bell is hung round the neck of the most willing 
horse of the pack, and from that moment he takes the lead. Till 
he moves on, it is almost impossible to force any of the others 
forward. If you keep back your horse for a mile or two when 
on the march, and then give him the rein, he dashes on in frantic 
eagerness to catch up to the rest. Get hold of the bell-horse 
when you want to start in the morning, and ring the bell and 
soon all the others in the pack gather round. 

We had never seen the gregariousness of horses so strongly 

exhibited as in the case of those Pacific pack-trains. And the mule 
(272) 



ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 273 

shows the sentiment or instinct still more strongly. A bell-horse 
is put at the head of the mule train, and the mules follow him 
and pay him the most devoted loyalty. If a strange dog comes 
up barking, or any other hostile looking brute, the mules often 
rush furiously at the enemy, and trample him under foot, to 
shield their sovereign from danger or even from insult. Alto- 
gether the bell-horse was a novelty to us, though his uses are 
so thoroughly understood here, that Jack and Joe were 
astonished at our asking any questions about so well established 
an institution. 

The night had been frosty, and the ground in the morning 
was quite hard, but after we had been on the road for an hour, 
the sun rose from behind Mount Cheadle, and warmed the air 
somewhat, though it continued cold enough all day to make 
walking preferable to riding. For the first four miles the road 
was similar to Saturday's. We then came to a mountain stream, 
towards the mouth of which the view opened and showed us 
Mount Cheadle rising stately and beautiful from the opposite 
bank of the Thompson. What had seemed yesterday a great 
shoulder stretching to the south was now seen to be a distinct 
hill, but in addition to the cone or pyramid with the twin heads 
of Mount Cheadle, a third and lower peak to the north east 
now appeared. Beyond the stream is Cranberry marsh. The 
trail here goes along the beach for a short distance, and then 
turns into the woods and hills again, giving us a repetition of 
Saturday's experiences. Eight miles from camp we crossed 
another and larger stream on the other side of which the valley 
widened and the country beyond opened. The landscape was 
softer and the wild myrtle and the garden waxberry mixed with 
the ruder plants that had held entire possession of the ground 
farther up. Eight miles more brought us to open meadows along 
the banks of the river, overgrown jn part by willows and alders, 
and in part covered with marsh grass. Here a halt of two 



274 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

hours for dinner was called. We had travelled about sixteen 
miles in five hours, and had only ten more to travel, to reach 
Goose Creek, where camp was to be pitched for the night. It 
was expedient to get there as early as possible, that the hors^ 
might have a good feed, for there would be no grass along to- 
morrow's road, which was also said to be the worst between 
Yellow Head Pass and Kamloops. 

During the last two or three days the river had fallen very 
much, and at our halting place it was eight or nine feet below 
its high water mark. The valley was wide enough to enable us 
for the first time to see on both sides the summits of the moun- 
tains that enclosed it. At this point they are remarkably varied. 
A broad deep cleft in the heavily timbered hills on the west 
side of the river, showed an undulating line of snowy peaks, 
rising either from or behind the wooded range ; and the opposite 
side was closed in nearer the river, by a number of separate 
mountains, probably from four to six thousand feet high, that 
folded in upon or rose behind one another. 

The afternoon drive was along a level, for the next six or seven 
miles to Blue River, where our progress was slow from the stubs 
or short sharp stumps of the alders, that dotted and sometimes 
completely filled up the trail. Blue River gets its name from 
the deep soft blue of the distant hills, which are seen from its 
mouth well up into the gap through which it runs. A raft is 
kept on this river for the use of the survey. We made use of 
th^ Cache or shanty on the bank, opening it for a small supply 
of beans and of soap. A diligent search was made for coffee 
but without result. 

The timber here is small and much of it has been destroyed 
by fires. After crossing the river, the trail winds round a bluff 
that extends boldly to the Thompson. Timber that had fallen 
down the steep face across the trail delayed us several times. 
Frank shot a large porcupine as it was climbing a tree, and 



Pl. 42. 




SKULL OF THE HEADLESS INDIAN. 



ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 275 

pitched it on the kitchen pack to be tried as food. Three miles 
more brought us to Goose Creek where we camped an hour 
before sunset. This was the spot the Doctor had been told to 
examine for the bones of " the headless Indian," and therefore 
as soon as he had unsaddled his horse, he selected a shingle 
shaped stick and, without saying a word, set off on his exploration 
with all the mystery and deliberation of a resurrectionist In a 
few minutes he came on a bit of board with the following inscrip- 
tion pencilled on it : — 

" Here lie the remains of the " Headless Indian," discovered by Lord 
" Milton and Dr. Cheadle, A. D. 1863. At this spot we found an old 
** tin kettle, a knife, a spoon, and fishing line ; and 1 50 yards up the bank 
" of the river we also found the skull, which was sought for in vain by 
" the above gentlemen. 

" T. Party, C. P. R. S. 
'« June $th, 1872." 

Scratching the ground with his wooden spade the Dr. was 
soon in possession of the skull and of the rusty scalping knife, 
that had been thrown in beside it, and finding the old kettle 
near, he appropriated it too, and deposited all three with his 
baggage, as triumphantly as if he had rifled an Egyptian tomb. 
Terry did not like the proceedings at all, and could only be 
reconciled to them on the plea that they might lead to the 
discovery of the murderers ; for nothing would persuade him 
that the man's head had dropped off, and been carried to a 
distance by the wind or some beast. He had seen heads broken, 
or cut off, but he had never heard before — and neither had we 
as far as that goes — ot a head rolling off; and therefore concluded 
that "there had been some bad work here." 

Frank and Jack skinned the porcupine, and prepared it for 
cooking ; and Jack boiled some beans to be eaten with it. A 
leg being spitted and broiled before the fire as a test morsel, was 
pronounced superior to beaver ; and the carcase was consigned 



276 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

to Terry, who decided to cut it up, parboil, and then fry it for 
breakfast. 

September 24th. — There was no need to look at the thermom- 
eter when we got up, to know that there had been frost. Every 
one felt it through the capote and pair of blankets in which he 
was wrapped. The Chief rose at midnight and renewed the 
fire. Frank then got up and curled himself into a ball within a 
few inches of the red embers. At 3 A.M., all rose growling, 
stamping their cold feet, lingering about the fire, lighting pipes, 
and considering whether washing the face wasn't a superstitious 
rule to be occasionally honoured in the breach rather than the 
observance. Everything was done slowly. It was nearly sunrise 
before any one even thought of looking at the thermometer, 
which then indicated 17 ° : not so very low, but we had been 
sleeping practically in the open air, and in a cold wind with 
rather light covering. Three-quarters of an hour were spent in 
cooking the porcupine ; and as it did not come up to our 
expectations, from inherent defects or Terry's cooking, very little 
of the meat was eaten ; and no one proposing to carry a piece 
in his pocket for lunch, it was left behind, — the only thing in the 
shape of food that had ever been wasted by us on the journey. 

At 6.15 A.M. we were on the march, expecting a heavy day's 
work, as the road lay over the Great Canyon that had all but 
defeated Milton and Cheadle's utmost efforts, and past the 
'porte d' enfer' of the Assineboine. The first three miles after 
crossing the Creek were partly round and partly over a heavy 
bluff ; and the next five along the river, which ran like a mill- 
race between high hills. These hills on our side afforded space 
for the road either along their bases, or on the first bench above. 
The next ten or twelve miles were to be through the dreaded 
canyon ; a pass as much more formidable than Killiecrankie as 
the Thompson is greater than the Garry. While climbing the 
first bluff near the entrance to the canyon, the bell-horse of a 



ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 277 

pack-train was heard ahead. Fortunately there was space for 
us to draw aside and let the train pass. It was on its way up to 
Tete Jaune Cache with supplies, and consisted of fifty-two mules 
led by a bell-horse, and driven by four or five men, representing 
as many different nationalities. Most of the mules were, with 
the exception of the long ears, wonderfully graceful creatures ; 
and though laden with an average weight of three hundred 
pounds, stepped out over rocks and roots firmly and lightly as 
if their loads were nothing. This was the first train that had 
ever passed through the canyon without losing at least one 
animal. The horse or mule puts its foot on a piece of innocent- 
looking moss; underneath the moss. there happens to be a wet 
stone over which he slips ; at the same moment, his broad 
unwieldly pack strikes against a rock, outjutting from the bluff, 
and as there is no room for him to recover himself, over he goes 
into the roaring Thompson, and that's the last seen of him unless 
brought up by a tree halfway down the precipice. Two months 
before a mule fell over in this way. The packers went down to the 
river side to look for him, but as there was no trace to be seen, 
resumed their march. Five days after, another train passing near 
the spot heard the braying of a mule, and guided by the noise 
looked, and found that he had fallen on a broad rock half way 
down, where he had lain for some time stunned. Struggling to 
his feet, fortunately for him the apparaho got entangled round 
the rock, and held him fast till he was relieved by the men of 
the train from his razor bridge over the flood. This was a more 
wonderful deliverance than that of Bucephalus when abandoned 
by Mr. O f B. 

For several miles, the river here is one long rapid, dashing over 
hidden and half-hidden rocks scattered over every part of its bed. 
The great point of danger is reached at ' Hell Gate. ' A huge 
arch had once stretched across the present channel, and had 
been rifted asunder, leaving a passage for the river not more 



278 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

than thirty feet wide. The rock looked as if it had recently 
parted, a depression on the one side exactly fitting into an over- 
hanging rock opposite, as if it were possible for a counter con- 
vulsion to groove and tongue the two together again. Through 
this passage the river raged, and the whole force of the current 
ran under the overhanging black rock, so near its roof that at 
high water the river is forced back. From this point the Canyon 
continues for six or seven miles down, at one point the opposing 
rocks being only fifteen feet apart. The river there boils and 
spurts up as if ejected from beneath out of an hydraulic pipe. 

Haifa mile below ' Hell Gate,' a bell was again heard ahead. 
This, to our great delight belonged to a mule train accom- 
panying Mr. Marcus Smith — the deputy of the Engineer in 
chief on the Pacific side. Our pack-horses were sent on while we 
halted to exchange greetings and news. Mr. Smith was on his 
way to Tete Jaune Cache to try and find a Pass across the Gold 
range. He had spent the greater part of the summer on the 
Pacific coast, in the Cascades, and the Chilcoten District in 
order to find a practicable line for the railway from Bute Inlet 
through to Tete Jaune Cache. After a long consultation and 
a lunch of bread and cheese — cheese produced by Smith and 
eaten so freely by us who had not tasted any for two months, 
that Smith ruefully declared our lunch to be "cheese — and 
bread," the Chief advised him to return with us to Kamloops, as 
it was too late in the season to adventure into the heart of the 
Gold range from the east side. It being also of importance that 
the two should compare notes for a few days, the two parties 
became one. 

Following up our pack-horses, we came in the course of the 
next few miles to the bottom of the Canyon, and all at once, to 
a totally different aspect of the river and road. The river ceases 
to descend rapidly for the next twelve miles, and the valley 
opens out to a breadth of two or three miles. The road runs 



ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 279 

through this level ; but, though a great improvement on the 
breakneck hills we had been going up and down all day, the 
clumps of willow and alder stubs and roots kept the horses from 
venturing on much beyond a walk, — except the Secretary's, a 
mad brute called " the fool " which dashed on after the " bell ' 
at such a rate that the rest of the party in following more slowly 
looked round to pick up the remains. The river here, as if 
exhausted with its furious racing, subsides into a smooth broad 
lake-like appearance, and calmly reflects everything on its banks- 
Hence the name of this district — "Stillwater." Four miles 
along this brought us to our men unpacking the horses at the 
point agreed on in the morning. Half a mile ahead, they said, 
were the tents of the U. and V. parties who had been surveying 
all summer between Kamloops and Tete Jaune Cache. They 
had met at this central point, the work on both sections being 
just finished. Going on to their camp, we found Mr. John 
Trutch, the engineer in change of both parties, and our friend V. 
Their encampment seemed to us a great affair, unaccustomed as 
we had been for weeks to new faces. Each party consisted in 
all of sixteen or eighteen men, with two Indians, — one the cook's 
slavey, and the other — slavey to the officer in charge, cabin boy, 
and general messenger. Besides the two parties there was a 
third in charge of a pack train, so that the valley was alive with 
men and mules ; — all busy packing up to start for Kamloops in 
the morning. Most cordial were the greetings on both sides. 
They at once set to work to prepare supper for us, though they 
had had their own already, and men were sent back to bring our 
tent down beside their encampment. The latest news was eagerly 
asked and given. We heard for the first time scraps of general 
election news, the item of most recent interest being the election 
of Sir Francis Hincks as M.P. for the Vancouver District; but the 
one that delighted us most being the victory of the Canadian 
team at Wimbledon in the competition for the Rajah of Kola- 



280 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

pore's cup against the eight picked shots of the United Kingdom. 
The names of the eight were read out, and a special cheer given 
for Shand of Halifax who scored highest. 

A mighty supper was soon announced, and as we looked at 
the tent floor, laden with what to us were the rarest delicacies, 
and knew that we had appetites to do full justice to them all, 
one after the other, our hearts warmed within us. Never were 
men in better condition for the table. Beefsteak, bacon, stuffed 
heart, loaf bread and a bottle of claret ; a second course of fried 
slices of the remains of a plum-pudding with which they had 
entertained Mr. Smith the day before, seasoned with blueberry 
jam made by themselves, — a feast for a king, — a feast the me- 
mory of which shall long gladden us. There was so much to talk 
and hear about, such a murmur of voices, the pleasant light of 
so many fires, the prospect of a warm sound sleep, and of more 
rapid journeying hereafter, that there was nothing wanting to 
make our happiness complete, except letters from home, and 
those were at Kamloops, not far away. 

September 25th. — Rose at 5.30 refreshed, and as ready for a 
Highland breakfast as if we had not eaten an English dinner 
last night. It was arranged that Mr.. Trutch should accompany 
us to Kamloops, V. remaining behind to bring on everything, 
and that at the Clearwater River, sixty-two miles distant, we 
should take the survey boat, and go down the Thompson for the 
remaining seventy-three miles to Kamloops. 

As the Chiei had letters to write to different parties, it was 
nine o'clock before we got away from the pleasant Stillwater 
Camp, bidding good-bye to V., not without the hope of soon 
meeting him in Ottawa, for we heard that there was a probability 
that in his absence, and without canvassing, he would be elected 
on this very day as- a member of the House of Commons. Our 
pack-horses had gone on two hours beiore with instructions to 
camp at Round Prairie, twenty-five miles from Stillwater. 



ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 28 1 

Soon after starting, we caught np to the beef-cattle and the 
pack-train of mules that had gone in advance with U's camp. 
As the trail is narrow and mules resent being passed on the road 
— occasionally flinging their heels back into the face of the too 
eager horse, it took some time and engineering to get ahead ; 
but when this was accomplished we moved at a rapid walk, 
breaking now and then into a trot. From the canyon to Kam- 
loops the trail steadily improved. Our morning journey was 
for ten miles along the grassy or willow covered meadow on the 
west side of the Thompson's Stillwater. The river looked like a 
long lake. The sand over the trail and the debris strewn around 
showed that, in some years at any rate, the river overflowed the 
low meadow; but an embankment of very moderate height 
would protect a railway line from all danger. 

We halted for lunch at the south end of the Stillwater, 
fortunately coming on U's advance party who supplied us with 
some bread, while the Doctor produced two boxes of sardines he 
had prudently " packed." One of the men, an old Ontarian, was 
diligently perusing the Toronto Globe of August 9th; and as it 
contained the latest news, he kindly presented it to the Chief, 
The paper, as was natural at the season, was filled with election- 
eering items ; but though we would have preferred a larger 
infusion of European news, very little was left unread. Another 
of the men gave Mr. Trutch a pair of willow grouse he had shot 
the day before. British Columbia boasts of having seven or 
eight varieties of the grouse kind, the most abundant being the 
sage hen, the blue grouse, the ptarmigan, and the spruce 
partridge or fool-hen, that is oftener knocked over with a stick 
than shot. 

After its long repose the Thompson now begins to brawl and 
prepare for another rush down hill. Its height above sea level at 
the bottom of the canyon is 2,000 feet and at Kamloops 1,250. It 
falls more than two-thirds of this 750 feet of difference in theforty- 



282 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

five miles immediately above Clearwater. In the seventy-three 
miles below Clearwater the fall is only 240 feet. The meadow 
now ceased, and the valley contracted again. We could easily 
understand the dismay with which Milton and Cheadle 
beheld such a prospect. The valley had opened before, below 
Mount Cheadle, as if the long imprisonment of the river, and 
with it their own, was coming to an end ; but the Great Canydn 
had hedged it in again more firmly than ever. Next at Stillwater 
and down for twelve or fourteen miles, everything looked as if 
the river wearied with its long course between high overhanging 
hills, was at last about to emerge into an open country of farms 
and settlements; but again the hills closed in, and the apparently 
interminable narrow valley recommenced. 

There was no gloom, however, in our party. No matter what 
the road, the country, or the weather, everything was on our 
side ; fair trail, friendly faces, commissariat all right, and the 
prospect of a post office before the end of the week. The day 
too was warm and sunny ; the climate altogether different from 
the rainy skies and cold nights higher up the slope; and we were 
assured that an hundred miles farther down stream, no rain ever 
fell except an occasional storm or a few drops from high passing 
clouds, — an assurance more welcome to us than to intending 
settlers. 

The aspect of the hills too was changing. They were lower 
and more broken, with undulating spaces between, giving 
promise of escape to the imprisoned traveller, sooner or later. 
Distinctly defined benches extended at different points along 
the banks, and on these the trail was comparatively level. 
About 4 P.M. we came to a bit of open called "Round Prairie," 
and found the men unpacking for the night, as there was no 
other good place for the horses nearer than sixteen miles off. 

This had been the easiest day's journey since entering the 
mountains, for though we had travelled twenty-four miles, there 



ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 283 

was no fatigue, so that it was really like one of the pic-nic days 
of the plains. The early camping gave another chance to read 
the papers, of which every one took advantage, though it seemed 
odd to be devouring with avidity papers nearly two months old. 

September 26th. — It rained heavily this morning, and the 
start from camp was made with the delays and discomforts that 
rain produces. The cotton tent weighes thrice as much as when 
dry. The ends of the blankets, clothes, some of the food, the 
shaganappi, etc. get wet. The packs are heavier and the horses* 
backs are wet ; and it is always a question whether or not 
water-proofs do the riders any good. This morning one of the 
pack-horses could not be found. Everything had to be packed 
on the three others ; Jack remained behind to look for the fourth, 
and soon found the poor brute sheltered from the rain, in a thicket 
near where "the bell" had been. 

The country to-day resembled that of yesterday ; but even 
where it opened out, the steady drizzle and the heavy mists on 
the hills hid everything. Cedars had entirely disappeared, and 
the spruce and pines were comparatively small. The aralea 
gave place to a smaller leaved trailer with a red berry like the 
raspberry ; and a dark green prickly-leaved bush like English 
holly, called the Oregon grape, and several grasses and plants 
new to us covered the ground. 

Six miles from camp we came to Mad River, a violent moun- 
tain affluent of the Thompson, crossed by a good bridge ; and 
ten miles farther on to "Pea Vine Prairie," where as the rain 
ceased and enough blue sky "to make a pair of breeches" showed, 
the halt for dinner was called. Here we saw for the first time 
the celebrated "bunch-grass," which has no superior as feed for 
horses or cattle ; especially for the latter, as the beet that has 
been fed on it is peculiarly juicy and tender. The name explains 
its character as a grass. It consists of small narrow blades — ten 
to fifty of them growing in a bunch from six to eighteen inches 



284 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

high, and the bunches so close together in places that at a 
distance they appear to form a sward. The blades are green in 
spring and summer, but at this season they are russet grey, 
apparently withered and tasteless, but the avidity with which 
the horses cropped them, turning aside from green and succulent 
marsh grass and even vetches, showed that the virtue ol the 
bunch grass had not been lost. 

The clouds now rolled up like curtains from the hills, and the 
sun breaking out revealed the river, three or four hundred feet 
below, with an intervale on each side that made the valley at 
least two miles across to the high banks that enclosed it. 
There was a bend in the river to the west, so that we saw not 
only a little up and down, which is usually all that can be seen 
on the North Thompson, but round the corner; a wide extent 
of landscape of varied beauty and soft outlines. The hills were 
wooded, and the summits of the highest dusted with the recent 
snow, that had been rain-fall in the valley. Autumn hues of 
birch, cottonwood, and poplar blended with the dark fir and pine, 
giving the variety and warmth of colour that we had for many 
days been strangers to, and which was therefore appreciated by 
us all the more. The face of the bank on which we stood 
presented a singular appearance. It was of whitish clay mixed 
with sand, the front hard as cement by the action of the 
weather ; there had been successive slides of the bank behind 
in different years, but the old front had remained firm, and was 
now standing out along the face, away from the bank, in pyra- 
midal or grotesque forms, like the trap or basalt rocks, spires, 
and columns along the east coast of Skye, springing from debris 
at the base. Similar strange forms of cemented whitish clay 
are to be found in several places on the Fraser. 

As Smith and Trutch now messed with us, the different cooks 
contributed to the common stock and to the cooking, with the 
two advantages of greater variety to the table, and greater speed 



ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 285 

in the preparation. After a short halt at "Pea Vine" we got into 

the saddle again, and made ten miles before sunset ; the trail 

leading across sandy benches intersected by numerous little 

creeks, the descent to which was generally so direct that every 

one had to dismount, both for the down and the up hill stretch. 

Camp for the night was pitched at one of these creeks, twelve 

miles to the north of the Clearwater, and Frank who had become 

quite an adept at constructing camp fires, built up a mighty 

one, at which we dried wet clothes and blankets. Our camp 

presented a lively scene at night. Great fires before each tent 

lit up the dark forest, and threw gleams of light about, that 

made the surrounding darkness all the more intense. Through 

the branches of the pines, the kindly stars — the only spectators — 

looked down on groups flitting from tent to tent, or cumbered 

about the many things that have to be cared for even in the 

wilderness, cooking, mending, drying, overhauling baggage, piling 

wood on the fire, planning for the morrow, or "taking notes." 

How like a lot of gypsies we were in outward appearance, and 

how naturally every one took to the wild life ! A longing for home 

and for rest would steal over us if we were quiet for a time, but 

a genuine love for camp life, for its freedom and simplicity and 

rude happiness, for the earth as a couch and the sky for a canopy, 

and the wide world for a bed-room, possessed us all ; and we 

knew that, in after days, memory would return, to dwell fondly 

over many an old camping ground by lake or river side, on the 

plains, in the woods, and among the mountains. 

September 27th. — Six miles travel like yesterday's brought us 
this morning to Raft River, a broad stream, whose ice cold 
pellucid waters, indicated that it ran from glaciers, or through 
hard basalt or trap rock that yielded it no tribute oi clay to 
bring down ; and six miles more along gravelly benches to the 
Clearwater, whose name is intended to express a similar character, 
and the difference between itself and the clay coloured Thompson 



286 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

it empties into. The Clearwater is so large a stream that after 
its junction, the Thompson becomes clearer from the admixture. 
At the junction there is a depot of the Canada Pacific Railway 
Survey, with a man in charge, and a three ton boat used to bring 
up supplies from Kamloops, which we had arranged with V. to 
take down, leaving Jack and Joe to bring along the horses, at a 
leisurely pace. From Clearwater to Kamloops by the trail is 
between seventy and eighty miles, and by the river probably 
ninety. Aided by the current we hoped to row this in a day 
and a half, and so get to Kamloops on Saturday night. V. had 
given us four men to row the boat, and as she lay at the river 
bank, the loads were taken from the horses' backs, and thrown 
in without difficulty. 

After dining in front of the shanty, we said " good-bye " to 
Jack and Joe, and gave ourselves up to the sixth lot of men, we 
had journeyed with since leaving Fort Garry, and the fourth 
variety of locomotion ; the faithful Terry still cleaving to the 
party, and really seeming to get fond of us, from force of habit, 
and the contrast of his own long tenure of service with the short 
periods of all the others. 

At two P.M., twelve got into the boat ; our five, the crew, 
Smith, Trutch, and his man Johnston who was to steer and help 
Terry. Up to two o'clock the day had been cloudy and cold, 
but the sun now came out, and we could enjoy the luxury of 
sitting in comfort, talking or reading, knowing too that no delay 
was occasioned by the comfort. The oars were clumsy, but the 
men worked with a will, and the current was so strong that the 
boat moved down at the rate of five or six miles an hour, so that 
after four and a half hours, Trutch advised camping, though there 
was still half an hour's twilight, for at the same rate we would 
easily reach Kamloops on the morrow. 

In this part of its course the river did not seem materially 
larger, or different from what it was much farther up. It still. 



Pl. 43. 




THE ASSINIBOINE BLUFF. 



ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 28/ 

ran between high rugged hills, that closed in as canyons at 
intervals. Its course was still through a gorge rather than a. 
valley. Any expanse was as often up on a high terrace, that 
had once been its bed, as down along its present banks. Seven- 
teen miles from the Clearwater we passed the " Assineboine's 
bluff," a huge protuberance of slate that only needs a similar 
rock on the other side, to make it a formidable canyon. At 
some points the forms of the hills varied so much that the scene 
was picturesque and striking, but these hills are merely outliers, 
and not high enough to impress, or to do away with the feeling 
of monotony. Besides, we had been so sated with mountains 
that it needed much more to attract our admiration now than 
would have sufficed a month ago. 

Our crew were expert in managing a boat and in putting up a 
tent. Before dark everything was secured, and we were enjoying 
our pork and beans, with a plate of porridge before and after the 
heavier dish ; and soon after supper lay down, as we expected, for 
the last time in this expedition — in our " lean to " — sub Jove 
frigido. This — our 'Thompson River Camp' — was the 6otk 
from Lake Superior, and as we wrapped the blankets round us,, 
a regretful feeling that it would probably be the last, stole into» 
every one's mind. 

September 28th. — Raining this morning again, but as there 
were no horses to pack, it was of less consequence. By 7.30 the 
boat was unmoored and we were rowing down the river, having 
fifty-two miles by the survey line and probably sixty-five by the 
river to make, if at all possible, before night. Behind and above 
us the clouds were heavy, but we soon passed through the rainy 
region, to the clearer skies that are generally in the neighbour- 
hood of Kamloops. For the first half of our way the river 
scenery was very similar to that of yesterday, except that the 
flats along the banks were broader and more fertile, and the 
hills covered more abundantly with bunch grass. A few families 



288 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

of " Siwashes," as Indians on the Pacific slope are universally 
called, in the barbarous Chinook, — probably from " Sauvages," 
are scattered here and there along the flats. Their miserable 
little tents looked like salmon smoking establishments ; for as 
the salmon don't get this far up the river till August and Sep- 
tember, the Siwashes have to catch and dry them for winter 
use very late in the year. 

Small pox has reduced the number of Siwashes in this part of 
the country to the merest handful. A sight of one of their winter 
residences, is a sufficient explanation of the destructiveness of 
any epidemic that gets in among them. A deep and wide hole is 
dug in the ground, a strong pole with cross sticks like an upright 
ladder stuck in the centre, and then the house is built up with 
logs, in conical form, from the ground to near the top of the 
pole, space enough being left for the smoke and the inmates to 
get out. Robinson Crusoe like, instead of a door, they use the 
ladder, and go in and out of the house during the winter, by the 
■chimney. As this is an inconvenient mode of egress they go 
out as seldom as possible ; and as the dogs live with the family, 
the filth that scon accumulates can easily be estimated, and so 
can the consequence, should one of them be attacked with fever 
or small pox. They boast that these houses are " terrible warm," 
and when the smoke and heat reach suffocation point, their 
simple remedy is to rush up the ladder into the air, and roll 
themselves in the snow for a few minutes. In spring they emerge 
from their hybernation into open or tent life ; and in the autumn, 
they generally find it easier to build a new house or bottle to shut 
themselves up in, than to clean out the old one. This practice 
accounts for the great number of cellar-like depressions along 
the banks of the river ; the sites of former dwellings resembling 
the sad mementoes of old clans to be seen in many a glen in the 
Highlands of Scotlands, and suggesting at the first view that the 
population in former years had been very large. But as one 



ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 289 

Siwash family may have dug out a dozen residences in as many 
years, the number of houses is no criterion of what the tribe 
numbered at any time. 

For the first ten or fifteen miles of to-day's course, the river 
ran rather sluggishly. The current then became stronger, and 
as it cut for several miles through a range of high hills that had 
once stretched across its bed, there was a series of rapids power- 
ful enough to help us on noticeably, and of course to hinder 
much more a boat going upstream. The valley here became a 
gorge again. Emerging from the range at mid-day, Trutch 
pointed out blue hills in the horizon, apparently forty or fifty 
miles ahead, as beyond Kamloops. We halted for twenty minutes 
to take a cold lunch, and then moved on. 

An hour before sunset we came to the first sign of settlers, — 
a fence run across the intervale from the river to the mountain, 
to hinder the cattle from straying farther up. Between this 
point and Kamloops there are now ten or eleven farms or 
"ranches" as they are called on the Pacific slope, all of them 
taken up since Milton and Cheadle's time. The first building 
was a saw-mill about fifteen miles from Kamloops, the proprietor 
of which was busy sawing boards to roof in his own mill, to 
begin with. Small log cabins of the new settlers, each with an 
enclosure for cattle called "the corral" close to it, next gladdened 
our eyes, so long unused to seeing any abodes of men. For all 
time, the names and technical expressions on the Pacific coast 
are likely to show that settlement proceeded from the south and 
not across the mountains. But such Californian terms as 'ranch,' 
'corral' and others from the lips of Scotchmen sounded strangely 
iii our ears at first. 

Stock raising is the chief occupation of farmers here ; for 
though the ground produces the very best cereals and vegetables, 
irrigation is required as in the fertile plains and valleys of Cali- 
fornia ; and the simplest methods of irrigating — even where a 



29O OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

stream runs through the farm — are expensive in a country where 
farm labourers and herdmen get from $30 to $75 a month and 
their ' board ' ; and where stock raising pays so well on account 
of the excellence of the natural grass. Common labourers on the 
roads in British Columbia get $50 a month, about $20 of which 
they pay for 'board' ; and teamsters and packers from $100 to 
$150. 

The farmers who have settled on the North or South Thomp- 
son are making money ; and beef commands higher prices every 
year. As there are very few white women, most of the settlers 
live with squaws, or Klootchmen as they are called on the 
Pacific ; and little agricultural progress or advance of any kind 
can be expected until immigration brings in women, accustomed 
to dairy and regular farm-work, to be wives for white men. 

The ranches taken up are near little creeks that supply water 
to irrigate them. In the valley of the South Thompson are large 
extents of excellent land beside, fit at once for the plough, that 
will not be settled on, till it is proved that water can be profitably 
raised from the river, or be had from wells in sufficient quantity. 
Neither way has yet been tried, simply because all the land 
along the creeks has not yet been taken up, and there has been 
no necessity for experimenting. 

As we drew nearer Kamloops, characteristics of a different 
climate could be noted with increasing distinctness. A milder 
atmosphere, softer skies, easy rolling hills ; but the total absence 
of underbrush and the dry grey grass everywhere covering the 
ground were the most striking differences to us, accustomed so 
long to the broad-leaved underbrush and dark green foliage of 
the humid upper country. We had clearly left the high rainy, 
and entered the lower arid, region. The clouds from the Pacific 
are intercepted by the Cascades, and only those that soar like 
soap-bubbles over their summits pass on to the east. These 
float over the intervening country till they come to the second 




w J 



ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 29 1 

range, a region high enough to intercept them. Thus it is that 
while clouds hang over Kamloops and its neighbourhood, little 
rain or snow falls. The only timber in the district is a knotty 
red pine, and as the trees grow widely apart, and the bunch-grass 
underneath is clean, unmixed with weeds and shrubs, and uni- 
form in colour, the country has a well-kept park-like appearance, 
though there is too little of fresh green and too many signs of 
aridity for beauty. 

The North Thompson runs smoothly for ten miles above 
Kamloops, after rippling over a sudden descent, and making a 
sharp bend round to the north-west and back again to the 
south. In the afternoon a slight breeze had sprung up, and a 
tent was hoisted for a sail : but the wind shifted so frequently 
that more was lost than gained by it, and at sunset we took 
it down and trusted to the heavy clumsy oars. We had only 
four or five miles to make when it became so dark that the 
shoals ahead could not be seen ; and as none of the crew knew 
this part of the river, the steering became mere guess-work, and 
the doctor as the lucky man was put at the helm. We grounded 
three or four times, but as the boat was flat-bottomed, and the 
bed of the river hard and gravelly, she was easily shoved off. 
The delays were provoking, all the more because there might 
be many of them ; but about 8 o'clock, the waters of the South 
Thompson, running east and west, gleamed in the darkness at 
right angles to our course. The North branch, though the 
largest, runs into the South branch. A quarter of a mile down 
stream from the junction is Fort Kamloops. 

The boat was hauled in to the bank ; and Trutch went up to 
the Fort. Mr. Tait, the agent, at once came down, and with a 
genuine H. B., which is equivalent to a Highland, welcome, 
invited us to take up our quarters with him. Gladly accepting 
the hospitable offer, we were soon seated in a comfortable room 
beside a glowing fire. We were at Kamloops ! beside a Post 



292 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

Office, and a waggon road ; and in the adjoining room, the 
half-dozen heads of families resident in or near Kamloops were 
holding a meeting with the Provincial Superintendant of Edu- 
cation, to discuss the best means of establishing a school. Surely 
we had returned to civilization and the ways of men ! 



Were we to judge from what we have seen of the country 
along the Fraser and Thompson rivers, the conclusion would be 
forced on us that British Columbia can never be an agricultural 
country. We have not visited, however, the Okanagan and 
Nicola Districts, or the Chilcoten Plains ; and we have heard 
good accounts of the fertility of the former, and the rich park- 
like scenery of extensive tracts in the latter. But the greater 
part of the mainland is, " a sea of mountains " ; and the Pro- 
vince will have to depend mainly on its rich grazing resources, 
its valuable timber, its fisheries, and minerals, for any large 
increase of population. Even that part of the country lying 
between the second range of " the Rockies " and " the Cascades " 
where we now are, is an elevated plateau, broken by hills. The 
indications are that it. once was submerged under water, with 
the hill tops then showing as islands, and with the long line o* 
the Cascades separating the great elevated lake from the sea. 
In process of time clefts riven in the Cascades made ways for the 
waters to escape. By these clefts the Fraser, the Homathco, 
the Skeena, and the Bella Coula now run in deep gorges through 
granite and gneissic or trap and basalt rocks to the sea. Origin- 
ally the waters emptied by a series of falls the magnificence of 
which it is scarcely possible to conceive. The successive sub- 
sidences of the water are now shown by the high benches of 
gravel and silt along the river valleys, and on account of the 
great depth cut down by the rivers, there are no bottom 



ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 293 

lands or meadows worth speaking of. As a general rule, with 
only a few exceptions, all the water channels are found in deep 
gorges, and for this reason the great rivers of the Province cannot 
overflow their banks. They must be content with rising higher 
up the steep hill-sides, between which, for the greater part of their 
course, they are pent. 



CHAPTER XI. 

From Katnloops to tJu Sea. 

Under a roof again. — Kamloops Beef. — Sermon. — John Chinaman. — No letters. — Lake 
Kamloops. — Savona's Ferry. — A night ride to Ashcroft. — Farming country.— Sage 
brush. — Irrigation. — A broken leg. — The Judge and the miners. — Gold mining.— 
Siwashes and Chinamen. — Indian graves. — The waggon road. — Canyons of the 
Thompson. — Big-bugs. — Lytton. — The rush to the gold mines. — Obstacles to settle- 
ment. —Effects of uneducated Salmon. — Boston Bar. —Jackass Mountain. — The 
road along the Canyons. — Grand scenery.— Suspension Bridge. — Spuraum'g Creek. 
— Yale.— Letters from home. — Travelling by steam again. —Steamer '• Onward."— 
Hope. — The judiciary of British Columbia. — New Westminster. — Salmon. — Assay- 
ing office.— Burrard's Inlet.— Grand Potlatch. — The " Sir James Douglas."— General 
remarks. 

Sept. 29th. — A long sleep in real beds under a raftered roof, 
and a dip in the Thompson prepared us for such a breakfast as 
some at least of us never expect to eat again. u Turtle soup 
out of a gold spoon " is meagre fare compared to Kamloop's 
beef. After a few samples at breakfast, we were willing to 
subscribe to all that had ever been said in favour of bunch-grass 
as feed for the cattle of kings. Mealy potatoes, eggs, and other 
luxuries that need not be mentioned, lest those who never knew 
want should scorn our " simple annals," explained satisfactorily 
the process by which Dr. Cheadle added forty-one pounds to 
his weight in a three week's stay at Kamloops. The dip was a 
pleasure too and not merely the duty it had sometimes been 
felt ; for though the branchesof the river are united, the currents 
of the two keep distinct for several miles down ; and the Fort 
being on the south side, we bathed in the South branch, which is 
so much warmer than the North that in summer, people who are 
anxious for cold water often cross in a canoe to the other side 
for a bucketful. 
(294) 



FROM K AM LOOPS TO THE SEA. 295 

Soon after breakfast, people began to assemble for the public 
worship that had been intimated immediately on our arrival 
The service was held in the dining room of the fort. About 
thirty attended ; — our own party, several gentlemen from other 
parts of the Province, the seven or eight inhabitants of Kam- 
loops, and four or five farmers from the neighbourhood. Mr. 
Tait's two little girls represented the female population of 
the place ; for the three or four white women of the settlement 
were either absent from home or otherwise unable to attend ; 
and the men who lived with " Klootchmen," as might be ex- 
pected, did not bring them to church. It may seem wonderful 
that these prosperous farmers should not have white wives ; but 
the remoteness of the place must be remembered, and they say 
too that the Victoria girls are unwilling to give up the pic-nics 
and gaieties of the capital for farm-life and hard work in the 
interior. Of course there are no servant girls at Kamloops. A 
young Chinaman, answering to the common name of " John," 
was cook and maid of all work at the fort ; and he did the work 
in a quiet pleasant thorough way that made us wish to steal 
him for our own use. 

Lunch at one, and dinner at five o'clock came in not too rapid 
succession, though a walk to the nearest hill-top was all that 
even the most energetic of the party took in the interval. From 
the hill-top is a magnificent view of the country round Kam- 
loops : the North Thompson valley for twenty miles up ; the 
South Thompson extending to the east, and the united stream 
running west for seven miles, — when it expands into a beautiful 
sheet of water — eighteen miles long — called Kamloops Lake 
The hills in the neighbourhood have the clean cultivated park- 
like appearance that we noticed yesterday ; and several farms on 
the flats, at the junction of the two branches, gave a look of life 
and field work, to which, as well as to the universal soft mellow 
colouring imparted by the bunch grass, our eyes had long been 



296 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

unaccustomed. Ten miles away among the hills on the opposite 
or north side of the Thompson is the " guard " with the four or 
five hundred horses of the fort, which, had time allowed, we 
would have visited, to compare the horses with those of the 
plains. One keeper suffices for the guard, for the horses cluster 
in bands round their own stallions, and give no trouble except 
when some, being required for use or sale, have to be separated 
from the rest. On such occasions, the whole guard has to be 
" coralled " or penned, and the selection made. It would be 
impossible for a thief to steal one except by " coralling " the 
band. Last year the Company was offered $12,000 for their 
Kamloops collection of horses. The offer was not accepted, but 
it gives us an idea of the value of animals that cost their owners 
only the pay of one keeper. 

Our Sunday dinner was again crowned with a pemmican 
plum-pudding. The Doctor had fraternized with 'John,' and 
prepared it as a surprise. Nothing can be said concerning its 
excellence more forcible than that it stood the test of being 
eaten after Kamloops roast beef, and a dinner worthy in all 
respects of Hudson Bay hospitality. Few guessed the ingre- 
dients of the pudding, but all praised it as having a " peculiar " 
flavour. 

Dinner was scarcely over, when people began to assemble for 
the evening service that had been announced in the forenoon. 
It was ' rough, mighty rough ' on some of the party round the 
table, this sudden transition from material to spiritual food. The 
Doctor looked beseechingly at the Secretary, and formed on his 
lips without syllabling it a word that could easily be interpreted 
'short'! But he, with callous indifference, preached for nearly 
an hour, because the congregation was larger than in the morning, 
and would not get a sermon again for six months. 

September 30. — On Saturday night our disappointment had 
been intense on learning that there were no letters or papers for 



FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 297 

us. All grumbled, and one threatened to leave out the last half 
of the weekly toast of " sweethearts and wives " ; but hearing 
that the paymaster of the Canada Pacific Railway Survey had 
left Victoria for up country, we comforted ourselves with the 
hope of meeting him with the budget in his pocket at Cache 
Creek, where the Kamloops road joins the Cariboo waggon road, 
or at Ashcroft six miles farther down the Thompson. 

Ashcroft is fifty-five miles from Kamloops, and if we were to 
get there to-night, an early start was necessary. But the pro- 
verbial difficulty of getting away in a hurry from an Hudson 
Bay fort held good. New arrangements require to be made ; 
men taken on or paid oft* ; horses or boat, and baggage to be 
seen to ; instructions to be left ; and all the time loafers and 
interviewers are in the way. We took advantage of odd minutes 
to be weighed, and a table giving our respective weights at 
Toronto and Kamloops is enough to prove that the expedition 
had not told severely on our physique. 

Weight at Toronto, July 16. At Kamloops, Sept. 30*. 

177 lbs. 
187 " 
160 " 
160 « 
Or a sum total, for the four, of 42 lbs. gain. 

The order for the day was to row down twenty-five miles to> 
Savana's ferry at the foot of Kamloops Lake, and there take 
horses to Ashcroft. This plan would both ease the horses, and 
enable the Chief to examine a bluff on the south side of the 
Lake, that had been represented as a formidable obstacle to the 
Railway line projected along the Thompson. 

It was 8 o'clock before a start from the fort was effected, and 
a head wind springing up soon after, our rate of progress was 
very slow. The river gradually expands into the Lake, and the 



The Chief - - ■ 


. - 174 lbs. 


The Doctor - - - 


. - 184 " 


Frank 


- 142 " 


The Secretary - - 


- 142 " 



2$S OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

scenery would be exceedingly beautiful were it not for the grey 
and arid or California look that vegetation here presents. The 
hills are diversified in form and colouring, as they are in age ; 
some heavy bluffs of trap and basalt jutting out into the lake, 
intermingled with carboniferous rocks ; and beyond them elevated 
plateaus, composed of a silt of mingled sand and clay, retreat in 
more or less distinctly defined terraces on which the subsiding 
waters had successively rested. These plateaus again have been 
broken and twisted by small streams and side waters. On those 
broken, narrow, winding plateaus, and the hill sides that bound 
them, is abundant grazing for ten times the number of cattle or 
sheep now seen on them. 

While rounding the great bluff, the wind — which generally 
blows directly either up or down stream — blew so freshly up that 
the boat made little or no headway. We landed at midday to 
eat a cold lunch, resolving to take to the horses if they could be 
seen on the other side of the bluff, and leave Terry in the boat 
to look after the luggage. Fortunately Mr. Tait had accompanied 
Jack, (who had made a forced march from Clearwater, arriving 
at Kamloops on Sunday afternoon), and noticing that the wind 
kept the boat back, they waited for us in a little cove beyond 
the bluff, nine miles from the ferry. We gladly mounted 
into the saddle again at 3 P.M., and in an hour and a half 
reached the end of the lake, where the Thompson issues from it 
as a broad deep noble-looking river. Ferrying across, a council 
was held at Savona's to decide what was to be done. It would 
be sunset before refreshment could be taken ; and it looked a 
little Dick Turpin-ish to start at such an hour for a thirty mile 
ride over a new road in a cloudy moonless night. Learning, 
however, that the Governor had been on his way to Kamloops 
to meet us, but had turned back to Ashcroft on hearing that we 
would probably be there to-night, our usual word " Vorwarts " 
was given. A jolly-looking Boniface and Mrs. Boniface hurried 



FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 299 

up a capital supper of Kamloops beef and vegetables, coffee and 
cake; and promised one 'that would make the hair curl' to any 
who could remain over night. Such a temptation, aided doubt- 
less by a variety of circumstances, induced Smith to remain ; but 
at 6 o'clock the rest of us were in the saddle. 

Four hours after, we reached Cache Creek, having rested only 
ten minutes on the way at the house of a French Canadian 
settler. The road followed the course of the Thompson, except 
for the last six or eight miles, when it turned a little northerly 
up the valley of the creek that runs into the Buonaparte, a trib- 
utary of the Thompson. There are good farms along the road, 
but night and the fact that it was after harvest made it necessary 
to accept the testimony of others on the point. The ground is 
a sandy loam, and will produce anything if irrigated, and nothing 
without irrigation. At Cache Creek the hotel was full, as it 
generally is, because at a junction of several roads. We learned 
here that the paymaster had gone in the Cariboo direction some 
days previously, perhaps carrying our letters on his person, as 
amulets. There was a letter for us from the Governor, and his 
trap waiting to take us on to Ashcroft. After waiting a little at 
Cache Creek to give the Dr. time to examine a patient, we got 
into the trap, and reached Ashcroft Hotel at 1 1 o'clock, and in 
half an hour after were in bed. The Governor had taken up his 
quarters at Senator Cornwall's, hard by, and would see us in the 
morning. 

October 1st. — After breakfast, a decision had to be come to 
with regard to our future movements in British Columbia. The 
Governor, not expecting our arrival so soon, had concluded that 
we would not be able to take the steamer for San Francisco till 
the 27th inst. He had arranged to accompany us to Bute Inlet 
on the nth, and advised us to visit in the interval the Upper 
Fraser river and Cariboo. It was important, however, that we 
should leave Victoria a fortnight earlier, if at all possible, and 



300 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

that necessitated our going on directly to New Westminster. 
No special object would be served by the Chief visiting Cariboo. 
The Governor, therefore, very kindly waived his own wishes, and 
telegraphed to Victoria for a steamer to meet us on Saturday at 
Burrard's Inlet. 

We had now to wait a day at Ashcroft for an express to Yale, 
where the steamer to New Westminster connects with the stage 
coach from Cariboo. Nothing would be gained by going on at 
once, for there would have to be delay at Yale, if not here. We 
therefore spent the day in seeing the country, and in the evening 
dined at Senator Cornwall's. 

The country about Ashcroft is sparsely peopled, and men 
accustomed to the rich grassy plains on the other side of the 
mountains, might wonder at first sight that it is peopled at all. In 
appearance, it is little better than a vast sand and gravel pit, 
bounded by broken hills, bald and arid except on a few summits 
that support a scanty growth of scrub pines. The cattle had 
eaten off allthe bunch-grass within three or four miles of the road, 
and a poor substitute for it chiefly in the shape of a bluish weed 
or shrub, called " sage grass " or " sage bush " has taken its 
place. The cattle eat this readily, and fare well on it in winter ; 
but it grows thinly, dotting rather than covering the sandy soil, 
and giving a " pepper and salt " look to the near hill-sides. 
This poor looking land however is no more a desert than are the 
rich valleys of California. Like them, it will grow anything, ii 
irrigated. Unfortunately the clouds pass and repass, driving 
forward only to sail high up, and beyond to the mountains, or 
to eddy back ; but even with this great drawback, and the high 
price of labour, and the lack of capital or enterprise, fanning 
here pays well. There is abundance of water in the Thompson 
to irrigate all those arid slopes, and the time is coming when 
this shall be done with success. 

At lunch to-day, a lumberer from the other side of the river, 



FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 301 

came in and inquired for the Doctor. A log had fallen on a 
Chinaman employe, and broken his leg. As there was no Dr. 
within a hundred miles, the employer had come over to telegraph 
for a druggist 30 miles off, as the nearest approach to a regular 
practitioner. " John," he said, " was a wonderful Chinaman ; 
he would as lief live with him as with a white man." The Doctor 
went at once on the erand of mercy, and having to extemporise 
everything required for setting the leg, it was eight o'clock at 
night before he got back. He reported the patient to have ex- 
hibited the greatest fortitude, and to be doing well. 

All the domestic servants we had seen as yet were Chinamen. 
They are paid from $20 to $45 a month, but as servant girls 
ask nearly as much, " John" is usually preferred. Though ail 
gamble and most smoke opium, such vices do not materially 
interfere with their duties as servants. They are bowling 
out not only the cooks and servant-girls, but the washer-women 
on the Pacific coast. And we must look to them as the 
future navvies and miners of our West There are now 18,000 
of them in San Francisco out of a population o. 160,000; 
60,000 in California, and about 100,000 altogether on the 
Pacific side of North America. It would have been difficult to 
build, and it would now be difficult to work the Union Pacific 
Railway without them. Is it wonderful then that there should 
be a prejudice against them in the breasts of the white working- 
classes they are supplanting. The true-blue Briton of last 
century hated the French, because " they were all slaves and 
wore wooden shoes." Why should not the Yankee labourer hate 
the Chinese, when they not only wear wooden shoes, but are the 
best of workmen, cleanly, orderly, patient, industrious, and 
above all cheap ? 

This evening we met Judge O'Reilly whose praises had been 
often sung by Brown and Beaupre, in contrast with judges on the 
other side of the boundary line. "There isn't the gold in 



302 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

British Columbia that would bribe Judge O'Reilly," was their 
emphatic endorsement of his dealings with the miners. They 
described him, arriving as the representative of British law and 
order, at Kootanie, immediately after thousands had flocked to 
the newly discovered gold mines there. Assembling them, he 
said that order must and would be kept ; and advised them not 
to display their revolvers unnecessarily, " for, boys, if there's 
shooting in Kootanie, there will be hanging." Such a speech 
was after the miners' own hearts, and after it, there were no 
disturbances in Kootanie. 

The judge in his turn praised the miners, as manly law-abiding 
fellows. He never had the least difficulty in preserving order 
among the thousands gathered from all quarters of the earth, 
though the available force at his back usually consisted of two 
constables. 

Left this morning for Lytton, forty-eight miles down stream, 
in an express, as the mail waggon from Cariboo was sure to be 
full of passengers at this season of the year. The waggon road 
on which we travelled is the principal public work of British 
Columbia ; constructed as a government work with great energy 
soon after the discovery of the Cariboo gold mines. It was a 
creditable undertaking for the infant colony, for most formidable 
engineering difficulties had to be overcome at the Canyons of 
the Fraser and the Thompson, and the expense was necessarily 
heavy. 

Before it's construction there was only a trail to Cariboo, along 
which the gold hunters toiled night and day, driving pack-horses 
that carried their blankets and provisions, or if too poor to afford 
horse or mule, packing everything on their own backs. Men 
have been known to start from Yale on foot, for the gold fields, 
with 150 lbs weight on their backs, and when they got to their 
destination, their difficulties only commenced. Gold was and is 
found in every sandbar Oi the river and in every creek ; but it 



FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 303 

had to be found in large quantities to enable a man to live. A 
pound of flour cost a dollar and a half, and everything else sold 
at proportional prices. The gold was in largest quantities near 
the bed rock, and this was generally covered with a deposit of 
silt from five to forty feet thick, containing but little of the 
precious metal near the surface. The country presented every 
obstacle to "prospecting." Range upon range of stern hills 
wooded from base to summit, through which a way could be 
forced only with incredible toil, and at the daily risk of starvation ; 
it is little wonder that the way to Cariboo, and the country itself 
proved to be the grave of many an adventurous gold seeker. A 
few made fortunes, in a week or a month, which as a rule they 
dissipated in less than a year ; hundreds gathered moderately 
large sums, which they took away to spend elsewhere ; thousands 
made "wages;" and tens of thousands, nothing. It had been the 
same in California, when gold was discovered there : but then 
the masses who were unsuccessful could not get out of the coun- 
try, and they had, — fortunately for themselves, — to hire out as 
farm servants and herdmen. In British Columbia they could 
get back to Oregon and California, and back they went, poorer 
than they had come, but leaving the Province little the better 
for their visit. 

At various points on the river, all down the road, miners are 
still to be found. These are chiefly " Siwashes " and Chinese, 
who take up abandoned claims, and wash the sand over again, 
being satisfied with smaller wages than what contents a white 
man. Their tastes are simple and their expenses moderate. 
None of them dream of going to the wayside "hotels," and 
paying a dollar for every meal, a dollar for a bed, a dollar for a 
bottle of ale, or twenty cents for "a drink." The Chinaman 
cultivates vegetables beside his claim ; these and his bag of rice 
suffice for him, greatly to the indignation of the orthodox miner. 
The Siwash catches salmon in his scoop net from every eddy of 



304 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

the river, and his wife carries them up to the house and makes 
his winter's food. These two classes of the population, the 
one representing an ancient civilization, the other scattered 
nomads with almost no tribal relationships, resemble each other 
in appearance so much, that it would be difficult to distinguish 
them, were it not for the long tail or queue, into which the China- 
man braids his hair, and which he often folds at the back of his 
head, instead of letting it hang down his back. The Pacific 
Indian is Mongolian in size and complexion, in the shape of the 
face, and the eyes. He has neither the strength of limb, the 
manly bearing, nor the dignity so characteristic of the Indians 
on the east side of the Rocky Mountains. 

Salmon are the staple of the Siwash's food, and these are so 
abundant that they generally sell them for ten to twenty-five 
cents apiece ; and ten cents in British Columbia is equivalent to 
a penny elsewhere, for there is no smaller coin than the ten cent 
piece in the Province. Servants here and on the Fraser river 
would probably bargain as they used to bargain when "hiring " 
in Scotland, that they were not to be expected to eat salmon 
oftener than four times a week, if there was the slightest neces- 
sity of their making any stipulation. But master and mistress 
know their places too well to dream of imposing that or any 
other hardship on them. We passed several Chinamen travelling 
along the road, each man carrying all his worldly goods suspended 
from the ends of a pole slung across one of his shoulders. So 
habituated are they to this style of carrying weight, that when 
they possess only one bundle, inconvenient to divide, they are 
said to tie a stone to the other end of the pole to balance the 
load. 

Next to the bold and varied scenery, and the dangers of the 
road, the chief objects of interest to a stranger travelling down 
the Thompson and the Fraser, especially after entering the 
Cascade range, are the Indian graves. Whatever these poor 






FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 305 

people can accomplish in the way of architecture or art, is 
reserved for their dead. A house better than they live in 
is built, or a good tent erected, and in it are placed all the 
valuables of the deceased, — his gun, blanket, food, etc.; in front 
hang scalps, or bright shawls, and white flags ; his canoe is placed 
outside, and beside it the hide of his horse or mule over a wooden 
skeleton ; rude painted images representing the man, woman, or 
family, as the case may be, are ranged in front. It is an article of 
faith with them that no Indian ever desecrated or robbed a grave; 
and this is probable enough, for seldom has an Indian been 
known to steal or disturb even the "cache" of another, though 
the cache of dried salmon on the Pacific slope is usually hung on 
a tree by the wayside. The provincial law, very properly im- 
poses severe penalties on those who violate Indian graves ; but 
that the temptation may not be too strong, the canoe is generally 
riddled, and .the lock of the gun taken off, before being deposited 
beside the dead. All those possessions so valuable in the eyes 
of a Siwash are left exposed to the winds of heaven and the 
beasts of the forest, and the age of the grave can be read in the 
condition in which you find them. 

Driving for three hours over a country resembling that round 
Ashcroft, we came to Cook's Bridge, where the Thompson is 
crossed, and soon after to the foot hills of the Cascade range. 
Everywhere the soil looked poor and arid ; yet every- 
where that cultivation was attempted, it produced cereals, roots, 
and fruits of the best kind. Tomatoes, water and musk melons 
ripened in the open air ; and no farmer has fewer than fifty 
head of cattle, while some have ten times as many. Now, how- 
ever, we were about to enter another rainy region, and the heavy 
mists resting on the hill-tops ahead, were the first indications of 
the change. The river's narrowness about Ashcroft had 
astonished us ; but here it contracted still more, looking smaller 

than either its North or South branch away up at Kamloops. 
T 



306 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

What it is forced to lack in breadth it makes up in depth. As 
the rocky outliers of the mountains cannot be levelled into 
meadows, the river has to dam itself up their sides or dig a 
deeper ditch. The road followed its course, winding along the 
bases of the hills, or climbing over the canydns, while far 
down, so immediately under us, that a stone could be dropped 
into the deep water, the river lay, like a green serpent, now at 
peace, and now rearing a crested head to pierce deeper into the 
overlapping barriers before it. 

Towards sunsetting, cold rain with strong gusts of wind came 
on ; and as the road was often only a narrow ledge, cut out of 
the side of a precipice, we were thankful when the driver pointed 
out a hill in front, as the one on the other side of which was our 
resting place, the village of Lytton, at the junction of the 
Thompson with the Fraser. 

We soon saw the lights of the village, and drove up to a 
house, the mean outside of which gave little promise of the good 
things for the inner man, in the dining room. M. Hautier, a 
Frenchman, and his pretty little Flamand wife, kept the house, 
and had comfortable rooms prepared for us, and a petit goilt de 
viouton, with fixings, for supper. The only unpleasant creature 
in the house, was a half drunken loafer, who carried the creden- 
tials of his nationality in his nose, and who was so disgusted 
at our having a separate sitting room, that he swore at 
large for an hour or two, consigning all " big bugs " to unmen- 
tionable places. Nobody answering or taking any notice of 
him, he at length subsided into mere growling and snoring, one 
or the other of which he kept up through the night, as a demo- 
cratic protest against " big bugs." 

October, 3rd. — The village of Lytton can scarcely be consi- 
dered worthy of its aristocratic name. A single row of frail 
unpainted sheds or log shanties, the littleness and rickettiness 
oi" which are all the more striking from the two noble rivers that 



FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 307 

meet here and the lofty hills that enclose the two valleys, is the 
sum total of Lytton. Its population of perhaps an hundred 
souls is made up of Canadians, British, Yankees, French, China- 
men, Siwashes, half-breeds ; all religions and no religion. An 
Episcopalian Missionary who has his headquarters at Lytton, 
was reported in a recent Exeter Hall speech to have four 
thousand baptized Siwash catechumens on his roll. A cipher 
or two must have slipped in through a clerical mistake, for the 
best authorities say that there are not as many Siwashes on the 
Thompson and Fraser, all told, and that the great majority are 
Roman Catholics or heathen. If the converts were baptized by 
any Church into cleanliness and industry, travellers would be 
more likely to believe in their conversion. 

To judge by the outside appearance of the village of Lytton, 
there must be something rotten in its state. — No sign of progress 
or improvement of any kind ; the use of paint or whitewash 
considered a sin ; though, perhaps even whitewash would be too 
good for such tumble down little huts. But go into the hotel, 
and all is changed. The inside is as different from what the 
outside would lead you to expect, as if it was the house of a rich 
Jew, in the middle ages. " All the comforts of the Saut-market" 
are to be had, and everyone, inside and outside the house, 
appears able to pay for them. A dirty looking miner calls for 
drinks all round, at twenty-five or fifty cents a drink, and con- 
siders himself half insulted if any one in the room declines the 
friendly invitation. " Go through the form so as not to give 
offence," whispered a gentleman to the Doctor, as he saw him 
backing away from the freely proffered claret, champagne, and 
brandy. The meat, fish, vegetables, and sweets on the table are 
all excellent, and well cooked. There are no poor men in the 
Province, and no such thing as bad living /known. The explana- 
tion of this contrast, huts in which the tenants live like righting 
cocks — is that none 01 the people came here to stay. They 



308 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

came to make money and then return home. Therefore it is 
not worth their while to build good houses or furnish them 
expensively ; but they can afford to live well ; and the gold 
miner's maxirn is " Eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we 
die." 

1 his state of things has been the millstone round the neck of 
British Columbia. The discovery of gold in 1858, on the Fraser, 
brought the first rush of people to the mainland, and resulted in 
the formation of the colony. All California was delirious. 
Thiny thousand men left the States for the Fraser, or, as it was 
popularly called, "the Crazy River." The rush to Pike's Peak 
was nothing to the rush for Victoria. But in the course of the 
next two or three years, the thousands died or drifted back 
again, and only the tens remained. Then, in 1862 the Cariboo 
mines were discovered, and the second rush was greater than 
the first ; but again, not an emigration of sober, steady house- 
holders, whose aim was to establish homes, and live by their 
own industry, but of fever-heated advevturers from all parts 
of the world, — men without a country and without a home. San 
Francisco was deserted for a time. Thousands sold their lots 
there, and bought others in Victoria or claims in Cariboo. 
Cariboo was four hundred miles from the sea, and there was no 
road but an old Indian trail, winding up and down mountains 
and precipices, across deep gorges and rivers, through thick 
woods without game; but the obstacles that would have stopped 
an army were laughed at by miners. Of course the wave soon 
spent itself. Had the colony been wisely governed, some thou- 
sands of the gold crusaders might have been retained as farmers, 
whose labour would have enriched the country ten times as much 
as all the gold of Cariboo. But the Province was not wisely 
governed in those days. It "knew not the times of its visitation." 
At least this was the reason assigned by most persons we 
conversed with on the subject; and their testimony is confirmed 



FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 309 

in a work published in 1862 by D. G. F. M'Donald C. E., on 
British Columbia and Vancouvers Island, Here is his pretty 
strong language, page 59 : — 

u What has been done to forward the peopling of the country? The 
" answer is short and simple, — nothing. The policy pursued has been 
" disastrous in the extreme, unexampled in the history of any other 
" dependency of the British Crown, and pertinaciously persisted in for 
" reasons unexplained to the public, and to them incomprehensible. 
** Greviously, indeed, have those persons complained who have given 
" consideration to the subject of colonization, and who have felt deeply 
" interested in the prosperity of the colony ; but without avail. Every 
•' obstacle had been cast in the way of the agriculturist, who desired to 
" settle and battle with natural impediments. This, no conscientious man 
" can be found to gainsay. The inflexible reply to one and all had been 
'* that land could not be had even at Government prices, or upon any 
" terms until first surveyed and put up at auction; and that squatting or 
" pre-emption would not only not be tolerated 3 but such aggression would be 
" visited with the summary process of ejectment hy the stern arm of the law. 
" Such has been the discouraging announcement which greeted hundreds 
" of hardy industrious emigrants, who finding themselves in the colony, 
" and having been at the expense of landing there, had determined upon 
u giving it a trial ; and these men had a full knowledge of all the natural 
" obstacles incident to such settlement and many had ample means to im- 
*■ prove their allotments, and provide for their immediate support. Lands 
" denied by the marvellous blindness of officials — a blindness as culpable 
" as it is inexplicable ! Has not the colony been strangled in its infancy?" 

Mr. McDonald then proceeds to give a number of facts to 
prove his assertions, p. 60 to 67 ; but, it's no use " crying over 
spilt milk." 

From that day, until recently, the colony has been going back, 
or as some gloomily say : " getting into its normal condition." 
Within the last ten years, millions of dollars in solid gold have 
been taken out of the colony. No one thought of remaining in 



310 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

it except to make a fortune ; no one was interested in its political 
life ; no one of the thousands of foreign immigrants became a 
subject of the Crown. It was a mere finger-joint separated from 
its own body. But all this is now changing. With Confedera- 
tion came the dawn of a brighter future ; and, although British 
Columbia may never have the population of California or 
Oregon, an orderly development is commencing that will soon 
make it rank as a valuable Province of the Dominion. It has 
now the prospect of being no longer a dissevered limb, but of 
being connected by iron, as well as sympathetic, bands with its 
trunk ; and it is already receiving the pulses of the larger life, 
Had the Columbia River, instead of the 49th parallell been made 
its Southern boundary line, i. e., had it received its natural and 
rightful boundary instead of a purely artificial one, it could 
compete with California in cereals as well as in gold mining, 
But in this, as in every case of disputed lines in Amerifia, U. S. 
diplomatists knew the value of what they claimed, and British 
diplomatists did not. Every one in the Province believes that 
they lost the Columbia, because the " salmon in it would not take 
a fly." At the time of the dispute, when, too, the Secretary for 
War was using brave words in the House of Commons, the 
brother of the Prime Minister happened to be stationed on the 
Pacific coast, and fished in the Columbia without success, because 
the salmon were too uneducated to rise to a fly. He wrote home 
to his brother that " there was no use making a fuss about the 

country for it wasn't worth a ." And so the worthless 

re r ion, now considered the most valuable on the Pacific, was 
gracefully given up. And why not, when it was the privately if 
not publicly announced aim of a school of British politicians to 
get rid of the whole of British America, and thus gradually work 
out Benjamin Franklin's problem of how "a great nation may 
be made into a very little one." But enough of this. We still 
have more good land than we know what to do with. 



FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 311 

Our first spell to-day was thirty-two miles down the Fraser 
from Lytton to Boston Bar, — once a sand-bar celebrated for its 
rich gold deposits, and still rich enough to be washed by China- 
men and even a few not over ambitious whites. The road for 
the first ten or eleven miles ran chiefly across broken gravelly 
benches ; and then over, or when possible, around canyons that 
overhung the river. The highest of these was " Jackass Mount- 
ain," a huge bluff of pudding stone, probably so called because 
before the waggon-road was made, the trail must have been 
strewn with the carcases of the gold seekers' mules. The road 
now is at an elevation of seven or eight hundred feet above the 
river ; and a thousand feet higher up may be seen a bridge at 
one time only two feet wide, stretched, like a spider's web, across 
a deep gulch on the old trail. Many a miner, in 1862, had 
crawled across this on his hands and knees, with -heavy packs on 
his shoulders, well knowing that if he slipped, there was nothing 
to save him from rolling and pitching over sheer perpendicular 
rocks, from point to point, for eighteen hundred feet into the 
Fraser. 

The waggon road, in many places, had to be hewed sideways 
out of the rock, or cloven through it, or built up with log or 
mason work in the hollows ; and the cribbing is now so much 
out of repair, that one couldn't help feeling uneasy occasionally. 
The heavy rain last night had both brought down boulders on 
it from the rocks above and loosened the soil at its outward edge, 
leaving but litt'e firm ground for the waggon between the 
mountain and the edge of the bank. The slightest carelessness 
or recklessness in driving would have hurled the whole of us into 
the deep muddy torrent that rolled along swiftly at the bottom 
of the gorge. But the ribands were in the hands of a steady 
New Brunswicker, who had been on the road since it was built, 
in summer and winter, day-light and dark, storm and shine, and 
who had never once missed time or come to grief in any way. 



312 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

Steve and a brother New Brunswicker, who drove the mail- 
coach, were now, as they deserved to be, partners in the concern. 
Better whips there are not ; and we, therefore, cordially recom- 
mend tourists who wish to travel over a road far more grand 
and picturesque than the celebrated Cornice between Genoa and 
Nice, to trust themselves to either of them. 

We dined at Boston Bar ; and by one o'clock, were on the 
road again, hoping to get over the remaining twenty-four miles 
to Yale before dark. The scenery all the way was of the same 
frightfully grand character as it had been for most of the fore- 
noon, with the exception of a small patch of open ground here 
and there, cultivated by an enterprising settler, and on which 
fruits and roots of the finest kinds grow readily. Eleven miles 
from Yale we crossed to the west side of the Fraser over a pretty 
suspension bridge, and, a mile beyond had to halt, as it seemed 
at first, for the night. A gang of men were busy rebuilding the 
bridge over a strong mountain torrent, called Spuzzum's Creek, 
from a patriarchal Siwash chief of that ilk, who had gathered a 
colony around him near the bridge, in decent looking huts 
superior to those of the town of Lytton ; and as only the 
stringers had been laid, there seemed nothing for it but to camp, 
or cross on foot and walk to Yale through a thick drizzle which 
had commenced. Several of the huge freight waggons used in 
British Columbia, each drawn by twelve or sixteen oxen, and 
fully a hundred pack mules had come on before us, to cross ; but 
having been told that there was no chance, their drivers had 
unharnessed or unpacked them, and were idling about. Steve, 
however, was equal to the occasion. He offered ten dollars if 
the men would stop their work and place loose planks across the 
stringers. The bargain was struck, and in an hour the job was 
done. Steve unharnessed his horses and walked them across, 
and the men dragged after him not only his waggon, but also 
the mail coach which by this time had caught up to us. A 



FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA, 313- 

number of Siwashes were engaged on the bridge, and seemed to 
work on a footing of equality with the whites, with the grand 
exception that their wages were only $20 a month, while the 
whites got from $40 to $60 and their board. The general report 
was that the Siwash was a good fellow, obedient and industrious 
as long as he had " a mind to work," if liquor could be kept from 
him ; but that liquor made him mad. He could neither resist 
it nor stand it. Again we were struck with the Asiatic cast of 
countenance ; and some of them were handsomer, from having 
decidedly straighter noses, than any Chinaman we saw. But the 
Fraser and Lilloet Indians are said to be the best in the Province, 
the best featured and the most industrious. 

It was not quite dark when we saw the lights of Yale. Our 
first resort was to the Post Office armed with authority from the 
Governor to open the Kamloops bag. No difficulty was made, 
and in it were found letters and papers for everyone of the party 
but the Secretary. Unfortunate man ! Never did Briton look 
more like pariah than he as he sat looking gloomily at the others. 
They dealt generously by him, even handing him their own to 
read. He smiled and made light of it, but they instinctively 
felt it would be better to say nothing. The newspapers were the 
first things that gave relief. In their company he found solace 
till the " wee short hour." 

October 4th. — At Yale, we said good bye to horses. Hence- 
forth, steam, the nineteenth century horse would carry us down 
the river, along the coast, and across the continent homewards. 
Canoe and barge, buck-board and cart, saddle and pack-horse, 
buggy and express waggon belonged to the past 01 the expedi- 
tion. 

To-day the steamer "Onward," that runs twice a week down 
the Fraser from Yale, was to take us to New Westminster, the 
Capital of British Columbia, previous to its union in 1866 with 
Vancouver's Island. There, another steamer connects for Victoria,. 



.314 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

but our intention was to examine some of the harbours on the 
mainland before crossing to Vancouver's Island. The " Onward V 
usual hour of starting is 7 A.M., but she delayed to-day till noon 
to oblige several gentlemen who had come up the river as far as 
Hope, to examine a new silver lead discovered in the mountains 
seven miles back from that settlement, and who wished to get 
back to Victoria this week. The delay gave us time to walk 
round Yale and up the river. The village itself has a neat, clean, 
and thriving appearance, as if its inhabitants had settled down 
to live in the country. The scenery in the neighbourhood is of 
the grandest kind, varying with every bend of the river. Hills 
rise in gradual wooded slopes for five, six, or eight hundred feet ; 
and above, bald rocks shoot up plumb for ten or twelve hundred 
feet higher. The valley is narrow, affording but little room for 
the farmer. 

The steamer started at noon, and nine hours after reached 
New Westminster, distant 95 miles. The current is so strong 
that she could run down in six hours — subtracting stoppages, 
while it takes two days to work up. None of the stopping places, 
are of much importance, though one or two are reported to be 
"growing," especially the agricultural settlement of Sumass, 
which is beginning to supply New Westminster and Victoria 
with beef cattle. A little more work ' on that line ' is what the 
Province needs most ; for at present, instead of keeping her gold 
within her own borders, she has to export it all to buy the neces- 
saries of life. 

Soon after passing Hope, where every one got specimens o. 
the new silver mine, the Fraser turns from its southerly to a 
south-westerly and then a westerly course ; and the valley begins 
to broaden and give some room and verge for farms. But the 
good land near the river does not amount to much. The Fraser 
has gold in its sandbars and salmon by the hundred thousand in 
its pools and channels ; but spite of its great length and force, 



FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 315 

the mountains between which it forces its way are too powerful 
for it to accomplish the usual work of rivers. It cannot overflow, 
no matter how immense the volume of water it rolls down to the 
sea ; it can only rise higher up the sides of its rocky barriers. 
We could see the high water mark twenty-five feet above the 
present level. 

On board the " Onward " we met Chief Justice Begbie, another 
name held in profound respect by the miners, Siwashes, and all 
others among whom he has dealt out justice. Judge Lynch has 
never been required in British Columbia, because Chief Justice 
Begbie did his duty, and maintained the dignity of his Court as 
effectually as if it had been held in Old Westminster. It is a 
grand sight to a rightly constituted mind when two or three 
policemen scatter a street mob. It must have been a grander to 
see a British judge backed by one or two constables maintaining 
order at the gold mines among the tag-rag and bob-tail, the 
rough and tumble, fever-heated classes of miners, gamblers, 
claim 'jumpers,' and cuthroats who congregate at such places. 
For "the yellow fever" seizes upon the most daring and the 
most abandoned of humanity, the strongest and the weakest. 
And where there is no previously settled population to enforce 
order, what can be expected round every rich creek or gulch but 
a miniature " Norfolk Island " without the keepers ? In such 
communities, especially at the outset, justice or even a little 
more than justice is true mercy. That Scotch Lord Braxfield 
who gleefully told an unfortunate wretch that 'he would be 
nane the waur o'a little hanging' would have been a very 
guardian angel in California in 1849. It ls a proud thought to 
us that British America has proved herself a worthy daughter of 
the Old Mother in her judiciary ; that in no Province has a judge 
ever been accused as corrupted or corruptible. In British 
Columbia the difficulties in the way of preserving order were 
greatest, yet the laws have always been respected and enforced, 



3l6 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

and two or three constables proved sufficient for every emergency. 
The results have been simply marvellous. The Times Cariboo 
correspondent could write in 1862: — "As to security of life I 
consider it just as safe here as in England." Every week for the 
last nine years the mail coach has carrid a box or boxes of gold 
dust from Cariboo with no defender but " Steve" or his partner ; 
and though running through a country roamed over by the 
lawless of every nation, where ambuscades could be planned at 
every turn, where for long stretches there is neither house nor 
shanty, it has never been plundered nor even attacked. Though 
comparisons are odious, they ought to be made sometimes. It 
is almost impossible to take up a newspaper, published on the 
other side of the line, without reading accounts of violent deeds 
in the gold fields, or of mail-coaches plundered. One fact that 
came under our own notice is sufficiently illustrative. On our 
return, the train stopped for an hour at Ogden in the Utah 
Territory. The first thing that attracted our attention was a 
series of placards on the railway station describing four different 
cases of highway robbery in the territory that month, and 
offering rewards varying from hundreds to thousands of dollars 
for the discovery of the highwaymen. 

They tell many good stories in British Columbia of the Chief 
Justice's dignity on the Bench, and the terror he inspires not 
only the guilty but sometimes the innocent with. The last we 
heard ought to be true if it is not. He sternly told a witness 
who hesitated considerably, that he believed he was prevaricating. 
— " And h-how can a fellow h-help prevaricating who has 1-lost 
his front teeth?" was the half-frightened, half-piteous response of 
the poor man expecting nothing less than an order for his instant 
execution. 

On our arrival at New Westminster, several gentlemen of the 
place waited on the Chief to offer him a public dinner. He felt 
obliged to decline, with thanks for the courtesy; and after 



/ROM K AM LOOPS TO THE SEA. 317 

making arrangements to start for Burrard's Inlet in the morning, 
we turned into our berths in preference to going to an hotel. 
The Secretary got his letters at New Westminster, and as a 
recompense for last night's disappointment received twice as 
many as any other of the party. 

October 5th. — The programme for the day was to drive nine 
miles across the spit of land, on one side of which is New West- 
minster, to Burrard's Inlet on the other side; see as much of the 
Inlet as possible ; and when the steamer that the Governor had 
telegraphed for arrived, proceed in her to Bute Inlet, visiting on 
the way the surveying parties who had been at work all summer 
on the coast. Several New Westminster gentlemen accompanied 
us to Burrard's Inlet ; and as the member for the district, the 
senior member for Victoria, and a senator from Cariboo were in 
town, the Chief invited them to join us in our coasting trip to 
the north. 

As this enlargement of the party occasioned an hour's delay, 
there was time to look round New Westminster, before starting, 
The population of the little town is less than a thousand, but 
the importance of a town in America is not estimated so much 
by its population, as by its position and the extent of country it 
supplies. New Westminster is the only town on the delta of the 
Fraser, and as the delta may be said to extend east and west 
from Sumass to the sea, and from Boundary Bay on the south 
to Burrard's Inlet on the north, or over sixty miles in length by 
twenty in breadth, a district including much land fit for agricul- 
ture, the population and importance of the country and town 
are sure to increase. Its being near the mouth of the Fraser, a 
river seven hundred miles long, does not help it much, not only 
because the Fraser drains comparatively little fertile land that is 
well adapted for cultivation, but because the entrance is intricate 
on account of the tortuous channel and shifting shoals that 
extend out for some distance into the Gull of Georgia. The 



3i8 



OCEAN TO OCEAN. 



excellent harbour of Burrard's Inlet, nine miles to the north, will 
therefore be generally preferred for shipping purposes. This 
has been already proved to a certain extent. The New West- 
minster proprietors of a large steam saw-mill finding Burrard's 
Inlet the fitter port for their shipments of lumber, transferred 
the machinery and set up their mill on the north side of the 
Inlet ; so that now, little or nothing is exported from New West- 
minster, except fish and cattle from the neighbouring settlements. 
A practically unlimited quantity of fish ought to be exported ; 
for salmon go up the Fraser from the sea in countless numbers. 
They are said to be inferior in quality to those of the Atlantic 
coast, though we did not unanimously think so, and they would 
probably be quite as good for " canning." The first " trade " we 
saw this morning was a Klootchman selling four salmon for 
twenty-five cents ; and that in a country where twenty-five are 
less valuable than ten cents in the Eastern Provinces. A sturgeon 
in the fish market weighed over 300 lbs. They are sometimes 
caught from six to nine hundred weight, and the flavour of this 
fish is considered by many superior to salmon. But the Province 
is very young, and requires capital and enterprise before it can 
compete on a large scale with the fish-curing establishments on 
the Columbia River. 

We paid a visit to the Assaying office, and the agent in 
charge explained the process by practical illustrations. Where 
there is no assay office, the miner in selling his gold is at the 
mercy of itinerant dealers. Now he takes his precious dust or 
nuggets to the office, where it is fused into ingots and the 
exact market value of each ingot stamped on it for a quarter 
per cent, or $1 for $400. The New Westminster- office assayed 
last year of the products of the Fraser mines $100,000. The 
Cariboo office 01 course does a much more extensive business. 

At 10 A.M. the united party started for Burrard's Inlet, and 
arrived in two hours. A lover 01 ferns would be charmed with 



. FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 319 

this bit of road, so surprising a variety can be gathered, especially 
near the Inlet. Many, such as the shield, the winter, the rock, 
the lady fern, and the bracken, are similar to those found in the 
Atlantic provinces, but other varieties were altogether new to 
us.* 

A steamer, so diminutive and toy-like that each man stepped 
on board tenderly for fear of upsetting or breaking her, was in 
waiting to take us across the Inlet to the large saw- mill owned 
by a firm, of which the enterprising M. P. for New Westminster 
is a partner, Thirteen million feet of lumber were exported last 
year from this, and about as much from another mill on the south 
side of the inlet owned, by a company. All the lumber is the 
famous Douglas pine. Logs four to five feet in diameter were 
being hauled up and sawed by two circular saws, the one placed 
above the other, as it is easier to work on such huge subjects with 
two ordinary sized than with one very large saw. The workmen 
represented the various nationalities scattered everywhere along 
the Pacific coast, Whites, Chinese, Siwashes, Kanakas or Sand- 
wich Islanders, etc. 

The aborigines work well till they save enough money to live 
on for some time, and then they go up to the boss and frankly 
say that they are lazy and don't want to work longer. They 
are too unsophisticated to sham sickness, or to 'strike.' Another 
habit of the richer ones, which to the Anglo-Saxon mind borders 
on insanity, is that of giving universal backshish or gifts to the 
whole tribe, without expecting any return save an increased 
popularity that may lead to their election as Tyhees or chiefs 
when vacancies occur. An old fellow, "big George," was pointed 
out to us as having worked industriously at the mill for years 

* A small collection chiefly made about Burrard's Inlet, includes the followingvarieties, 
besides two new ones that we could not make out:— Polypodium vulgare ; P. Dryopteris; 
Asplenium Trichomanes ; .Allosorus crispus ; Cystoptens montana ; C. fragilis ; Pteris 
AqaiJina; B'echnmn boreale; Polystichum acrostichoides ; P. Lonchitis : Lastrea diiatataj 
Botrychiura Virginia uni : B. Luuaria; B. lunarioides. 



320 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

till he had saved $2,000. Instead of putting this in a Saving's 
Bank, he had spent it all on " stores " for a grand "Potlatch," 
summoning Siwashes from far and near to come, eat, drink, 
dance, be merry, and receive gifts. Nearly a thousand assem- 
bled ; the festivities lasted a week ; and everyone got something, 
either a blanket, musket, bag of flour, box of apples, or tea and 
sugar. When the fun was over, " big George," now pennyless, 
returned to the mill to carry slabs at $20 a month. His reputation 
mounted to an extraordinary height because of so magnificent 
a "potlatch," and he stood a good chance of the Tyhee-ship ; but 
two rivals, "Supple Jack" and "Old Jim," were preparing to 
outdo him; and if Siwashes are at all like civilized beings, the 
"'popularis aura" shall fill their sails before long. 

Very naturally Siwashes measure all excellence by the grub or 
gifts they get. It is said that when a Church of England Bishop 
lately visited a tribe that one of his missionaries had laboured 
among for some time, they all gathered to meet him, being told 
that he was " hyass Tyhee " or great chief of the praying men. 
The Bishop addressed them at great length, and apparently with 
effect, but when done, a grave and reverend fellow rose and 
snuffed out his lordship with half a dozen words, which in ver- 
nacular Chinook, are even more emphatic than in any slang 
English they can be rendered into, " lots of gab ; no grub, no 
gifts ; all gammon." A delightful gentleman to convert cer- 
tainly ! 

The workmen at the mill live in comfortable little houses, 
perched on rocks at the foot of a lofty wooded hill overhanging 
the shore. There is no soil except what has been made on the 
beach from chips and sawdust. Round the nearest point is a 
small tract diligently cultivated by a few Chinamen. The men 
have a large reading-room with an harmonium, and a well 
selected library. No intoxicating liquors can be sold on the 
premises. Their pay is good and they save money. The 



FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 321 

manager of the mill on the other side of the Inlet told us that he 
would give $200 a month to any competent overseer we would 
send him. 

The woods all round these shores are well stocked with deer. 
The usual way of hunting is to send the dogs into the woods, and 
drive the deer down into the harbour, where they are at the 
mercy of the sportsman. The overseer informed us that in this 
way he could shoot a deer any day within two hours. 

After lunch, we embarked on a large steamer belonging to the 
mill for a sail round the Inlet. At this moment, the Sir 
James Douglas the steamer the Governor had telegraphed for, 
arrived from Victoria. The captain came on board to put him- 
self at the orders of the Chief, and it was arranged to start with 
him as soon after midnight as possible. In the meantime he 
proceeded with us down the Inlet. 

Burrard's Inlet is naturally divided into three divisions, that 
are really three distinct harbours. The saw-mills are on the 
opposite shores of the middle one. This middle harbour narrows 
at both extremities, and an outer and a further inner harbour 
are thus made. We had time to visit only the outer and the 
middle, both safe and capacious harbours, with easy entrance 
and good anchorage. At seven P.M. we got back to the mill, 
and after dinner said good-bye to the New Westminster gentle- 
men who had kindly accompanied us. The little cabin of the 
Sir James Douglas was to be our dining and sleeping room 
for the next week, our last week, for after it "the home stretch " 
would begin. 



The little that we saw of the mainland of British Columbia 
does not warrant us to say much about it as a field for emigrants. 
There can be no reasonable doubt that it can support in comfort 
a much larger population than it now has. The resources of the 



u 



322 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

colony are considerable, but all its industries are in their infancy, 
cramped from want of capital, and obliged to compete with the 
immense and consolidated establishments of similar industries 
on the other side of the boundary line. Its distance from the 
countries that supply emigrants, and the expense of travelling 
from place to place, on account of the magnificent distances 
within the Province itself, are great drawbacks. But on the other 
hand, the high price paid for all kinds of labour, the ready market 
for all products of the soil, and the healthiness of the climate 
are immense attractions to the ordinary class of emigrants. 
While lumbering, mining, and the fisheries offer the richest 
prizes to men of capital and experience, mechanics and the 
labouring classes can command such wages that the economy of 
a few years puts them in the position of small capitalists. Farm 
labourers especially ought to be able to buy and stock good 
farms of their own out of the savings of four or five years ; and 
then they are comfortable and independent for life. We heard 
the Province styled " the poor man's paradise ;" and as 10 per 
cent is given everywhere, with undoubted security, for the use of 
money, the rich man has no reason to be dissatisfied. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The Coast, and Vancouver s Island. 

On the waters of the Pacific —Bute Inlet.— V aides Island.— The Fiords of British Colum, 
bia.— Waddington Harbor. — Glaciers.— Chilcoten Indians. — Massacre.— Party X.— 
Salmon.— Arran Rapids.— Seymour Narrows.— Menzies Bay.— Party Y.— The Strait 8 
of Georgia.— New settlements on Vancouver's Island.— Nanaimo.— Coal mines. — 
Concert.— Mount Baker.— Pujet Sound.— San Juan Island.— The Olympian Mountains. 
—Victoria.— Esquimau Harbor.— A Polyglot City— The last of Terry— The Pacifio 
Ocean.— Barclay Sound.— Alberni Inlet.— Sunset on the Pacific— Return to Victoria. 
—The Past, Present, and Future.— The Home-stretch.— The great American Desert. 

October, 6th. — Before any of us came on deck this morning, 
the good Sir James Douglas had steamed out of Burrard's 
Inlet, and past the lofty mountains that enclose the deep fiords 
of Howe Sound and Jervis Inlet, into the middle of the Straits 
of Georgia. Our first sight was of the Island of Texada on our 
right, and the bold outline of Vancouver's Island farther away 
on our left. 

After breakfast, divine service was held in the cabin. On 
those inland waters of the Pacific that, folding themselves round 
rocky mountain and wooded island, looked to us so lovely, we, 
who had come four thousand miles from the Atlantic, united our 
voices in common prayer with fellow subjects who call these 
shores of the vaster Ocean of the West, their home. Again, all 
found that prostration before Him, who is our Father, and also 
King of Nations, not only evokes the deepest feelings of the 
human heart, but also purifies them. The tie of a common 
nationality, especially if the nation has a great history, is holy. 
The aim of our work was to bind our country more firmly 
together, and this thought elevated the work ; while worshipping 
together made us feel more powerfully than any amount of 
feasting and toasting the flag — that inhabitants oi the same 
(323) 



324 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

Dominion, subjects of the same Sovereign, and heirs of the same 
destinies, must ever be brothers. 

Towards mid-day, our course took us out of the Straits of 
Georgia, north-easterly up into Bute Inlet, another of those 
wonderful fiords of unknown depth that seam this part of the 
Pacific coast. The chart makes it 40 fathoms deep, with a mark 
over the figures signifying that the naval surveyors had sounded 
to that depth without finding bottom. 

The object of going up this Inlet, another of the proposed ter- 
mini for the Railway, was to enable the Chief to get such a birds- 
eye view of it as he had already obtained of the prairie and the 
mountain country, and at the same time to meet two parties of the 
C. P. R. Survey, who had been at work in this quarter all summer. 

On the question of which is the best western terminus, there 
are two great parties in British Columbia, one advocating the 
mainland, the other Vancouver's Island. On the mainland, New 
Westminster, Burrard's Inlet, and other points are proposed. If 
a harbor on Vancouver's Island be chosen, then the railway must 
cross to the shores of Bute Inlet, and follow the easiest possible 
route from its head through the Cascade Mountains. The 
advocates of the island termini, Victoria, Esquimalt, and Alberni, 
always asserted that it was a simple matter to cross the Straits 
of Georgia to the mouth of Bute Inlet by Valdes Island, which 
on the map does seem to block them up almost completely; then, 
that the line could be made along the shore of the Inlet to the 
mouth of the Homathco River, and up its course, through the 
Cascades, to the Chilcoten plains. Two main routes had there- 
fore to be surveyed : one, from the mouth of the Fraser River, 
and up the Thompson ; the other, from Vancouver's Island across 
to Bute Inlet, and, up the Homathco to the Upper Fraser, from 
whence the line could be carried by the North Thompson valley, 
if no direct passage across the Gold-range to the Canoe River, 
or Tete Jaune Cache could be found. 



s 




THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 325 

A short time after the latter survey was commenced, the 
engineers reported that Valdes Island, although represented on 
the Charts as one, really consisted of a group of three islands. 
The naval surveyors had seen channels piercing into Valdes 
Island, but had not followed them up, their business being to lay 
down the soundings only along the through channels, and Valdes 
Island, not having been explored, had always been considered 
an unit. The discovery of the true state of the case complic- 
ated the question, and rendered a Hydrographic survey, of four 
or five, instead of two " Narrows," necessary. This was work for 
one party, the line up Bute Inlet being assigned to another, and 
up the Homathco through the Cascades to a third. 

On board the Sir James Douglas we had the member for 
New Westminster a zealous advocate of Burrard's Inlet, and the 
member for Victoria — a true believer in an Island terminus. To 
a student of " human natur" it was amusing to notice with what 
different eyes each looked at or refused to look at the difficulties 
of the rival routes. The former gazed exultingly on the high 
bluffs and unbroken line of mouutains, that rose sheer from the 
waters of Bute Inlet. But his sarcasms were invariably met 
by a counter reference to the canyons of the Fraser and the 
Thompson. The Senator from Cariboo acted the part of a free 
lance, now backing the one and next moment the other. 

There was not one of us who had ever seen anything like the 
Inlet we steamed up this afternoon. The inlets which cut deep 
into this coast, from the straits of Fuca northward for twelve 
degrees of latitude, probably resemble the fiords of Norway, but 
none of our party could speak of those from personal observa- 
tion. 

It is a singular fact that, while there is not a single opening in 
the coast for seven hundred miles north of San Francisco, except 
the bad harbour of Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia river, 
the next seven or eight hundred miles should be broken by 



326 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

innumerable inlets. The case is paralleled on the Atlantic side 
of North America. From Florida to Maine there are very few 
good ports, while north of Maine, embracing the coast of New 
Brunswick and Nova Scotia, there are scores. The openings in 
the ironbound coast of Nova Scotia are not unlike those on the 
Pacific side, except that on the Atlantic the indentations do not 
cut so deep into the land, and the shores are low. 

Up into the very heart of the Cascade range through a 
natural passage, which could not have been formed by the 
Ocean, for the coast is protected here from its erosions by Van- 
couver's Island, we sailed to-day for forty miles, over water 
almost as deep under our keel as the snow-capped mountains 
that hemmed the passage were high above our heads. The 
Inlet varies in breadth from one to two-and-a-half miles, and so 
deep is it in every part that a ship may sail up and down close 
enough to the shore, in most places, for a man to jump to the 
rocks. 

A mist, followed by a drizzliug rain, came on early in the 
afternoon, and hid the snmmits of the mountains, but the gleam 
of scores of white cataracts could be seen ; and, like furrows 
amid the dark spruce, the clean sides of the rocks in long 
straight lines showed where avalanches had swept every thing 
before them into the deep waters below. Half way up the Inlet, 
we saw a tent on the shore. A whistle brought it's tenant out to 
us in a canoe ; and he proved to be a commissary who had pre- 
ceded X party a few miles, in order to make necessary arrange- 
ments for their advance. An hour after, we passed camp X., but, 
as the mist had thickened and our captain had never been in 
these waters before, he steamed on without stopping, for 
Waddington harbour at the head of the Inlet. This point he 
reached after dark, and at once sent a boat's crew ahead to 
sound for an anchoring place. After some delay, between seven 
and eight P.M., the boatswain held up a lantern in the boat to 



THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 327 

indicate where soundings had been found. Steaming up to the 
light the anchor was let go in twenty-five fathoms, quarter of a 
mile from the shore and from the head of the Inlet. 

October 7th. — A magnificent view awaited those early on deck 
this morning. Nearly two hours were spent in weighing anchor, 
and then the steamer went round the harbour to enable us to 
see it on all sides. Rain had fallen steadily through the night, 
and, now that it had ceased, mist clouds hung about the 
great masses of rock that on all sides rose perpendicularly into 
the region of eternal snow. Here and there, rifts in the mist, 
as it was broken by projecting peaks, revealed mountain sides 
curtained with glaciers. The only sound which broke the awful 
stillness was the muffled thunder ot cataracts, multiplied by last 
night's rain, gleaming far up among the scanty pines, washing 
down the slippery rocks in broad white bands, or leaping from 
bluff to bluff an hundred feet at a time, for more than a thousand 
feet down to the sea. We were at the head of Bute Inlet. The 
salt sea water could cut no deeper into the range that guards 
the western side of our continent. The mountains stood firm 
except where the Homathco cuts its way through, in a deep 
gorge, sentinelled on each side by snow-clad warders. 

By this water-highway of Bute Inlet, the late Mr. Waddington 
had urged the Government of British Columbia to make their 
road to Cariboo. On their adopting the Fraser River route, he 
organized a private company and began its construction, so con- 
vinced was he, that, its superiority would attract to it the travel 
between Cariboo and the outside world, and that a toll on goods 
carried over it would soon repay the cost of construction. His 
project was a steamer from Victoria to the head of Bute Inlet, 
and a waggon road thence up the Homathco to Cariboo ; the 
distance being 175 miles less this way than by the Fraser. After 
spending $60,000 on surveys and on trail making, his men were 
murdered in 1864 by a tribe of Indians to whom provocation 



328 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

had been given. The Government secured the arrest of the 
murderers, and had them hung up at Quesnel mouth ; but, irom 
that day, the Coast and Chilcotin Indians have been regarded as 
dangerous and blood-thirsty. The C. P. R. parties, who travelled 
the country this year, had no trouble however ; and Mr. Smith 
reports that the Chilcotins are the manliest and most intelligent 
Siwashes in the Province. 

From the description that Mr. Smith gave us of the scenery 
on the Homathco, we would fain have landed and gone at least a 
few miles up the river : but time did not permit. He had worked 
up from the head of the Inlet through the Cascades in July last, 
overcoming by sheer determination not to be beaten — all difficul- 
ties of forest, canyons, torrents, and lazy treacherous Indians ; 
getting surveys at great risk of neck and limb, by felling trees 
across deep chasms from one to two hundred feet wide, and let- 
ting men down by ropes to the foot of high cliffs. The following 
extracts from one of his private letters to the Chief give more 
vivid pictures than any plate can, of scenes up the river. Here 
is what he says of the canyon, 3 1 miles from the head of the 
Inlet, and immediately above the rope ferry used by Mr. Wad- 
dington which is shown, as it then existed, in one of the plates. — 
" I commenced the survey of the canyon, following the river 
on the new trail commenced by Waddington, as far as it went, — 
about half a mile, — when it terminated at an inaccessible bluff 
on which blasting had been commenced. The scene here is 
awfully sublime. The towering rocks, thousands of feet high ; 
— far above these again the snow-clad peaks, connected by huge 
glaciers ; and in a deep gorge beneath, a mountain torrent — 
whirling, boiling, roaring, and huge boulders always in motion — 
muttering, groaning like troubled spirits, and ever and anon 
striking on the rocks, making a report like the booming of 
distant artillery. But with all this wildness, there is the fresh 
beauty 01 vegetation. Wherever there is a crevice in the rocks 



THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND^ 329 

large enough to hold a few inches of soil, trees are growing and 
wild flowers blooming." 

After getting through " the core of the Cascade range," he 
came upon " the murderers' camp, where thirteen of Wadding- 
ton's men were murdered eight years ago. The spot looks as 
if it had never before been visited by man since the massacre 
The number of tents could be counted by the cedar bark forming 
the beds. Strewed around were various tools, — a blacksmith's 
anvil, sledge-hammers, crowbars, grindstone, vice, picks, and half 
a dozen shovels carefully placed against a tree ready for the 
morrow's work ; also pieces of clothing, amongst which were at 
least one pair of woman's boots — too surely indicating the source 
of the trouble." This last clause suggests the origin of more 
than one " Indian atrocity." It's a fair question to ask always, 
" Who struck the first blow ? " So much for the Homathco. 

The forenoon was spent by us in coasting down the northerly 
side of the Inlet until we came to camp X. After inspecting 
their work we proceeded on our way down,, Mr. Gamsby, the 
engineer in charge of party X. accompanying us. He reported 
that the Indians, far from giving any trouble, had been of ma- 
terial assistance in many ways, acting as servants or messengers, 
and selling deer, wildfowld, fish etc., at moderate prices. He 
pointed out a stream, running into the Inlet on the east side, at 
the mouth of which, on a recent visit, he had seen hundreds of 
thousands of dead salmon strewn along the shore ; while thou- 
sands of crows, kites, vultures, and eagles filled the air. In 
similar places, such sights must have been common when white 
men first came to the country. These Pacific waters swarm with 
fish, that struggle up brawling streamlets to spawn, in spite of 
rapids, cascades, rocks, and shallows. No wonder that people, 
who have only eaten salmon caught inland, say that the Pacific 
varieties are inferior. They were good when they entered the 
river's mouth ; but, when caught a few hundred miles up the 



330 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

Fraser, often the head is bruised by rocks and falls, and the 
scales, fins, and even the tail rubbed or worked off. No wonder 
that half of them perish by the way, and that none return to the 
sea. It is asserted as a fact, eveiy where in British Columbia, 
that none of the salmon entering the Fraser river, and even the 
smaller streams, ever return to the sea. 

We were struck with the beauty of Gamsby's canoe, and 
indeed of all the Indians canoes on this coast. Each is a model 
of architectural grace, although the lines reminded us of Chinese 
or Japaness rather than of British models. The canoes are 
generally made out of a single large log. After scooping out the 
log, they steam it in the following primitive manner. — Filling it 
with water, they throw in heated stones to make the water boil, 
and at the same time build a bark-fire round the outside. The 
wood " gives " several inches, until the central part of the canoe 
is made broader at the top, and the requisite curvature given to 
its sides. The proper shape is secured by putting in stretchers 
like a boat's thwarts : outside and inside are then painted ; an 
ornamental figure-head set on, and the canoe is complete. 

By midday the mouth of Bute Inlet was gained, but instead 
of returning in the direction of Burrard's Inlet, we ran through 
Arran Rapids in order to pass round the north side of Valdes' 
Island. At every turn, the beautiful views which an archipelago 
affords, met our eyes. The islands of every possible variety of 
form, were wooded from lofty summits to the brink of deep 
channels. At one time we were in cross-roads where four dif- 
ferent channels opened out, north, south, east, and west ; soon 
after in a narrow winding strait, or shooting swiftly through 
tidal rapids, or in a broad bay where snowy peaks could be 
seen behind the green foothills. After passing through Seymour 
Narrows, where, if there is to be a continuous line from an Island 
terminus, the bridge between Valdes' and Vancouver must be built, 
we rounded into a beautiful land-locked harbor, called Menzies 



THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 33 1 

Bay, and cast anchor for the night. Between the Narrows.and the 
Bay, the tents of Y. party were picturesquely pitched, on an open 
easy slope, under the shadow of the forest. A whistle from the 
steamer brought Mr. Michaud, who is in charge of the party, on 
board, and, after dinner, all rowed off to his encampment, the 
Chief to inspect plans, the rest to see the camp. As compared 
with all the others, Y. party has been in clover from the begin- 
ning of their work. They were near Victoria, had a monthly 
mail, and could renew their supplies as they ran out Their 
store-house filled with bags of flour, flitches of bacon, pork, 
molasses, split peas, beans, pickles, and a keg of beer, suggested 
good cheer ; while any day, they could buy from the Indians 
a deer, weighing from 120 to 160 lbs., for one, or according to 
circumstances, two dollars ; and salmon, trout, wild-geese, duck, 
or mallard, for trifling sums. They had no deer-meat in camp 
to-day, but they generously presented us with two wild-geese, 
each weighing ten or eleven lbs. 

October 8th. — Our programme for the day was to reach 
Nanaimo Coal Mines as soon as possible, for the steamer's 
bunkers needed replenishing, and we all wished to see something 
of the mines, which promise to be of more benefit to British 
Columbia than all the gold-fields. Accordingly at 4 A.M. the 
auchor was weighed. 

We were now getting into waters familiar to our captain ; for 
strange as it may appear, not one on board with the exception 
of Mr. Smith, had ever been up Bute Inlet or round Valdes 
Island before this trip. Nothing shows more clearly the youthful 
and imperfectly developed condition of the Province than such a 
fact. Her representative men, those most likely to be best 
acquainted with her resources, know little beyond their own 
neighbourhood or the line of their one waggon-road. Distances 
here are so great, the means of communication so limited, and 
the mountainous character of the country renders travelling so 



332 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

• 

difficult, that the dwellers in the few towns and settlements have 
hitherto seen but little of the Province as a whole. 

When we appeared on deck about 7 o'clock, the steamer was 

running down the Straits of Georgia, over a rippling, sun-lit sea. 

The lofty Beaufort range, on our right, rose grandly in the clear 

air, every snowy peak distinct from its neighbour, and the blue 

sky high above the highest. Victoria, and the twin peaks Albert 

Edward and Alexandra, ranging from 6,000 to over 7,000 feet 

in height, were the most prominent ; but it was the noble serrated 

range as a whole, more than separate peaks, that caught the eye. 

The smaller Islands to the left were hidden by a fog-bank that 

gradually lifted. Then stood out, not only islet after islet in all 

their varied outline, but also the long line of the Cascade range 

behind. Yesterday had been charming from 10 o'clock, when 

the sun pierced through the mists; but to-day was "all white." A 

soft warm breeze fanned us, and every mile disclosed new 

features of scenery, to which snow-clad mountain ranges, wooded 

plains, and a summer sea enfolding countless promontories and 

islands, contributed their different forms of beauty. The islands 

are composed of strata of sandstone and conglomerate; the 

sandstone at the bottom worn at the water line into caves and 

hollows ; the conglomerate above forming lofty cliffs, wooded to 

the summits, and overhanging winding inlets and straits most 

tempting to a yachtsman. From the southern point of Valdes 

Island down to Nanaimo, a considerable area of low lying and 

undulating land extends between the central mountain range of 

Vancouver's Island and the Straits of Georgia, well adapted 

for farming purposes. At two points, Comox and Nanoose, 

settlements have been formed within the last few years, and are 

prospering ; but where there is one settlement there ought to be 

twenty, if the island is to raise its own grain and hay, and to 

cease sending out of the country all its wealth. There is little 

or no immigration to Vancouver's Island, and but little has been 



THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 333 

done to induce it, or to smooth the way for those who arrive. 
When an immigrant reaches the country, he finds it difficult to 
obtain information as to where there is good land to take up ; 
and how is it possible for him to go out among a sea of moun- 
tains to search for a farm? The island should be thoroughly 
surveyed according to the simple system long practised in the 
United States and lately adopted in Manitoba ; the amount of 
good land known, divided into sections and subsections, and 
numbered ; so that, on arriving at Victoria, the immigrant could 
go into the Crown Land office, learn what land was pre-empted, 
and where it would be expedient for him to settle. There are 
many obstacles in the way of immigrants reaching this distant 
colony, and therefore special efforts are required to bring them, 
and to keep them when they come ; for, until there is a large 
agricultural population, the wealth of the country must continue 
to be drained out of it, in order to buy the necessaries of life and 
every article of consumption, from Oregon, California, Great 
Britain, and elsewhere. 

We were sorry at not being able to visit Comox. Our informa- 
tion about it is therefore second-hand ; but testimony was 
unanimous concerning the good quality of the land, the acces- 
sibility to markets, and the prosperity of the settlers, notwith- 
standing the short time they have been in the country. 

By noon we had left the Beaufort range behind, and Mount 
Arrowsmith came into view ; while far ahead on the mainland, 
and south of the 49th parallel, what looked a dim white pyramid 
rising to the skies, or a white cloud resting upon the horizon, 
was pointed out to us by the Captain as Mount Baker. Soon 
; after, we rounded into the northern horn of Nanaimo harbour, 
called Departure Bay, and drew alongside the pier where a 
lately organized Company is shipping coal from a new seam 
that has been opened, three miles back from the point of ship- 
ment. 



334 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

Landing here, and leaving the steamer to coal, most of us 
walked by a trail to Nanaimo through the woods, along a channel 
that connects Departure Bay with the old mines. The channel, 
which is an excellent roadstead is between the mainland of Van- 
couver and a little Island called Newcastle, on the inner side 
of which another excellent coal mine, within ten feet of navigable 
water, has just been opened. There are two seams at Newcastle, 
averaging three feet each and separated by three feet of fire clay, 
which as the miners proceed becomes thinner, the coal seams 
becoming thicker. From this convergence it is supposed that 
the clay will soon give out, and the two seams of coal unite into 
one. Near this Newcastle mine, is a quarry of light colored 
freestone of excellent quality, from which the mint at San 
Fransisco has just been built, and which is sure to be of immense 
service and value in the near future. There is no such freestone 
quarried on the Pacific coast ; and its convenience for shipping 
makes it doubly valuable. 

At Nanaimo proper, is a population of seven or eight hundred 
souls, — all depending on the old or Douglas mine. The manager 
informed us that they would probably ship fifty thousand tons 
this season, while last year they shipped less than thirty thou- 
sand ; and that, next year, they would be in a position to ship 
an hundred thousand or more. They could give employment to 
fifty or sixty additional men at once, at wages averaging nom 
two to three dollars a day. A new seam, nine feet thick, had 
lately been discovered, below the old one ; and we went down 
the shaft three hundred feet to see it. The coal was of the same 
excellent quality as that of the old mine, which is the best for 
gas or steam purposes on the Pacific coast. But the miners had 
come upon " a fault " in the seam, caused by the dislocation of 
the strata, immediately above and below, intruding a tough con- 
glomerate rock that they were now cutting away in the hope of 
its soon giving out. The coal measures which these few seams 



THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 335: 

now worked represent, extend over the whole eastern coast of 
Vancouver Island, and like those on the east of the Rocky- 
Mountains are cretaceous or of tertiary age. They are con- 
sidered as valuable as if they were carboniferous and are certain 
to be fully developed before long. 

It is provoking to know, however, that the agricultural settle- 
ments in the neighborhood, which, though small, are the most 
extensive on the island, are not able to supply the present popula- 
tion of Nanaimo with food ; and that no steps are taken to bring 
in new settlers, though there is abundance of good land all 
round. If this state of things continues, even though the mining; 
population of Vancouver's Island increase ten fold in as many- 
years, most of the wealth will be sent out of the country, as was 
the gold of Cariboo, and the country in the end be as poor as 
ever. 

Nanaimo does not look like a coal mining place. The houses 
are much above the average of miners' residences in Britain or 
in Nova Scotia. Scattered about, often in picturesque situations^ 
with gardens, and not in long, mean, soot-covered rows, as if laid 
out with the idea that men who see nothing oi beauty under- 
ground cannot be expected to appreciate it above. The view 
from the town, of the Cascades range, on the other side of the 
Straits is almost equal to the view of the long semi-circular line 
of the Alps from Milan. At sunset, when warmed with the 
roseate light, or, a little later, when a deep soft blue has displaced 
the couleur de rose, the beauty is almost inconsistent with the ash 
heaps and tenements of a mining village. Though not a 
believer in the " God made the country ; man made the town " 
sentiment, the contrast irresistibly suggests the words. 

In the evening a concert was held on behalf oi the Episcopal 
Church of the place, and all our party went to see ' the beauty 
and fashion, the bone and sinew' of Nanaimo. The hall, which 
holds about two hundred was well filled, and the entertainment 



33^ OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

consisted of music, vocal and instrumental, and magic lantern 
views. The prologue by the Rector, the songs, the dresses of 
the ladies, reminded us of a world left behind three months ago. 
We had got back to civilization. The Ontario papers that 
reviled the constituency that returned Sir F. Hincks, should send 
reporters to Nanaimo ; for only men who have been accustomed 
to describe such assemblages could do justice to the beauty of 
the women, the intelligence of the men, the musical taste of the 
Rector and the choir. If an impartial report concerning the 
Nanaimo concert were given, no further doubt would be enter- 
tained in the East, of the Vancouver districts' right to have a 
Cabinet Minister for their representative. 

October, 9th. — Another day of glorious weather ; such weather 
as Vancouver's Island has, almost without interruption, from 
March till October or November ; warm enough for enjoyment 
and cool enough for exercise. Our course was down the Gulf 
of Georgia to Victoria ; past the agricultural districts of Cowichan 
and Saanich on the Vancouver side, and the various islands 
that line the mainland on our left. Mount Baker was the great 
feature in the landscape all day. We could hardly help feeling 
envious that the United States instead of ourselves possessed 
so glorious a landmark ; especially as it still bears the name of 
the British Naval Officer in Capt. Vancouver's ship who first saw 
it, and is in the country that was formally taken possession of, 
for the British Crown in 1792, and that had been, up to 1846, 
held by a British Company. Indeed, it is difficult even to con- 
ceive of any plausible excuse that the United States could have 
brought forward, in claiming the country round Puget's Sound. 
They knew its value, and the British Premier, not only did not, 
but his brother had assured him that the whole country wasn't 
worth talking about, much less the risk of war ; for " the 
salmon wouldn't take a fly." 

On the fourth of April 1792, the birthday of King George III, 



THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 337 

after whom he had named the Straits of Georgia, Captain 
Vancouver took formal possession of all the waters of Puget 
Sound, and of the coast north and south along which he had 
sailed, for His Majesty, whose commission he carried. All the 
prominent capes, points, harbours, straits, mountains, bear to 
this day, the names of his lieutenants or friends, just as he 
named them on his great voyage. He changed nothing. As 
the old Portuguese navigator, Juan de Fuca, had discovered the 
Straits of Fuca, his name was honorably preserved, and as Van- 
couver met a Spanish Squadron that had been sent out to give 
up Nootka and other Spanish claims on the coast to Great 
Britain, he adopted the names that the Dons had given to any 
channels or islands, such as Valdez, Texada, Straits of Melas- 
pina, etc. Puget Sound, he named from his second lieutenant ; 
Mount Baker, from his third ; Cape Mudge, from the first ; 
Mount Rainier, from Rear Admiral Rainier ; Capes Grey and 
Atkinson, Burrard, Jervis, and Bute Inlets, Fort Discovery, 
Johnstone's Channel, and a hundred others were all alike named 
by him ; and if Britain had no right to those south of the 49th 
parallel, she had no right to those farther north. 

Still more astonishing : in 1846 when Britain yielded the 
Columbia River and the whole Pacific side of the continent up 
to the 49th parallel, not a single citizen of the United States had 
settled to the north of the Columbia. Swarms from the 
Western States had flocked into Oregon in the ten preceding 
years of joint occupation, and so the Government at Washington 
might plead the will of the settlers against the Imperial rights 
of Britain ; but that plea could have carried them, at the farthest, 
only to Astoria. If Oregon had to be ceded, the Columbia 
fciver should have been the boundary. 

It may be said that all this is a reviving of dead issues, out 
of p'lace and useless now. But the history of the past throws 
light on the present, and is a beacon for the future. Had the 
V 



338 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

San Juan difficulty been viewed, not merely in the light of the 
literal wording .of the Treaty of 1846, but in the light of all 
the facts, the decision of the Emperor of Germany must have 
been different. 

Before noon we entered the Haro Strait that separates San 
Juan (pronounced here " San Wan ") from Vancouver's Island. 
Between the northern part of the Haro Channel and Vancou- 
ver's Island, are several islets and two narrow channels, that 
ships going to Victoria may take. South of these, there is 
nothing between San Juan and the southern extremity of Van- 
couver, but the Haro Strait, six or seven miles wide. It is 
therefore evident that while San Juan would be useless to Britain 
for military purposes, its possession by the United States is a 
menace to us ; for it commands the entrance to British waters, 
British shores, a British river, and a British Province. There is 
a hill on San Juan about a thousand feet high, a battery on 
which would command the whole Strait. 

There are many conjectures here as to the effect of the Empe- 
ror's judgment, should it be adverse, some think his decision would 
throw a heavy sword into the scale against New Westminster or 
Burrard's Inlet as a terminus for the Canadian Pacific Railway. 

The sail down the Straits of Haro was all that a pleasure 
party on board a steam yacht could have desired. On the main- 
land, the long line of the Cascades or Coast range broken by 
the Delta of the Fraser extended to the south, — though dwarfed 
into comparative insignificance by the mighty mass of Mount 
Baker, rising up in the midst. Farther south, the line swept 
round the deep gulf of Puget Sound, then north-westerly and 
away as far west as the entrance of the Straits of Fuca, under 
the name of the Olympian range. When under the lee of San 
Juan the snowy pyramid of Mount Baker looked out on us over 
the Island, while far to the south, in the back ground of the 
Olympian range, the dim form of Mount Rainier was seen lifting 



THE COAST AND VANCOUVER.S ISLAND. 339 

itself up in the sky. Rounding the southern point of Vancou- 
ver's Island, we came to the spit of land that is cut into by the 
harbour of Victoria and four miles further west by the much 
superior harbour of Esquimalt. We steamed first into Victoria 
to get letters and telegrams, and proceeded immediately there- 
after to Esquimalt, returning at 4 P.M., some of us by land, over 
a good macadamized road, and some in the Sir James Douglas. 

The harbour of Victoria has a narrow entrance, is small, 
inconveniently shaped, and accommodates only vessels of eighteen 
feet draught of water ; but as Esquimalt is near enough to serve 
as an additional harbour, Vicioria does not suffer. Esquimalt 
harbour is a gem ; not very large, but the anchorage is excellent, 
and it has all the other requisites of a first-class harbour ; and 
in " the Royal Roads " outside, along the coast as far as Race 
Rocks, any number of slips can ride safely. In Esquimalt, one 
U. S. and four British men-of-war lay, two of the latter having 
been just paid off. We were astonished to find that the British 
Government had not constructed a dock at Esquimalt, and tliat 
now it is not even the headquarters of the Pacific squadron, the 
foreign port of Valparaiso having been selected instead. 
Esquimalt is our own, our interests are along the coast, coal is 
near, China and Japan only fifteen days distant, and the Admiral 
could be in daily communication when necessary with the Home 
authorities. The only reasons assigned on the other side are 
that British Commercial interests in South America are par- 
amount, and that sailors desert at Esquimalt and get off easily 
to the States. The same reasons ought to be conclusive against 
Halifax as the head-quarters of the North American squadron, 
and in favour of adopting Rio or some other South American 
port in its stead. 

The terms of confederation with the Dominion included a 
guarantee of the interest on ;£ 100,000 stg. for ten years from the 
completion of the work, for a first-class Graving Dock at Esqui- 



340 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

malt, and the Provincial Government has accordingly taken steps 
to commence its construction. 

On our return to Victoria in the afternoon, one of the first 
persons we met in the street was Terry. Having no further need 
of his services, we had parted with him last week at New West- 
minster. He had gone on to Victoria direct and had monopo- 
lized the lionizing intended for the whole party ; had been 
interviewed about our marvellous north-west passage by land, 
with results as given in the newspapers, that spoke quite as 
much for Terry's imagination as for his memory. He had con- 
jured up a Canyon on the Canoe River twenty miles long, where 
no Canyon is or ever had been ; had described us as galloping 
down the Yellow Head Pass till arrested by the sight of quartz 
boulders gleaming with gold, and rocks so rich that Brown and 
Beaupre had deserted to go back and mine ; and, with many an- 
other fact or fancy equally readable, made the hearts of reporters 
glad. " Drinks " had probably been the reward, and the con- 
sequences to Terry proved serious. For on the first day after 
being paid in full at the office in Victoria for his long trip, he 
had been plundered of every dollar. He was now looking round 
for work ; and before we left Victoria, hired as general servant 
on board a ship going north. Thus disappeared Terry into space- 
Should any one U) future wish to engage him, we hereby certify 
him as a good servant, a good tailor, a good cobbler, and indeed 
anything but a good cook, the post which, unfortunately for us, 
he filled. In his own words, " he never liked being boss ; but 
could be understrapper to any any one," and, such a man is a 
treasure in America. 

A walk through the streets of Victoria showed the little capital 
to be a small polyglot copy of the world. Its population is less 
than 5,000 ; but almost every nationality is represented. Greek 
fishermen, Kanaka sailors, Jewish and Scotch merchants, Chi- 
nese washerwomen or rather washermen, French, German and 






THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 34 1 

Yankee restaurant-keepers, English and Canadian officeholders 
and butchers, negro waiters and sweeps, Australian farmers and 
other varieties of the race, rub against each other, and apparently 
in the most friendly way. The sign-boards tell their own tale : 
" Own Shing, washing and ironing " ; " Sam Hang," ditto ; 
" Kwong Tai & Co., cigar store "; " Magasin Francais " ; " Teu- 
tonic Hall, lager beer " ; " Scotch House " ; " Adelphic " and 
11 San Francisco " saloons ; " Oriental " and " New England " 
restaurants ; "What Cheer Market," and " Play me off at ten- 
pins," are all found within gunshot, interspersed with more 
common-place signs. 

The senior member for the city had invited several gentlemen 
to dine with us at the Colonial Hotel at 5 o'clock. A better 
dinner could not be served in Montreal. We were only sorry 
that we had to leave at 7, to go on board the Sir James Douglas, 
and proceed to Alberni Channel, one of the proposed termini 
on the west coast of Vancouver's Island. But time was precious, 
as the San Francisco steamer was expected to be in every hour. 
Parting with Mr. Smith, and adding the second member for 
Victoria to our number, we went down to our little steamer and 
started on this, our last expedition, at 7.30 P.M. 

October 10th. — The distance between Victoria and the Pacific 
by the Straits of Fuca is sixty miles. The Sir James Douglas 
made that by midnight, and then turned north for the spacious 
Archipelago of Barclay's Sound, from the head of which Alberni 
Canal, or to use the modern word Channel, a deep narrow fiord like 
those on the main land, cuts its way up into the interior of Van- 
couver's Island. Barclay Sound has three entrances, separated 
; from each other by groups of islets and rocks, and as the nearest 
is the best for ships from the south, the Captain intended to run 
up by it into Alberni. The weather dur r ng the night was so 
favourable that he over-ran his distance, and never having been 
in the sound before, he waited for daylight to compare the coast 



342 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

with the charts. Those who came early on deck had thus an 
opportunity of seeing the Pacific breaking on the iron shores of 
Vancouver. Away behind us the great ocean stretched unbroken 
to Japan and China, sleeping peacefully — under the morning 
light that was shining over the mountains to the east — with no 
motion save a slow voluptuous roll of long billows that seemed 
gentle enough to be stayed by a child's hand. But to know 
their strength, even in a calm, turn and look where these same 
billows meet the headlands. Over the first they break with a 
heavy roar ; and then, as if amazed to be resisted, they gather up 
their forces and rush with a long wild leap, like white-maned 
war-horses charging, among the inner breakers, to meet the fate 
that a gallant ship would meet if it mistook the entrance to the 
sound. When a gale is blowing from the west, the surf must be 
tremendous, for there is nothing to break the roll of the Pacific 
for 2,000 miles ; but the entrances into the sound are wide, and 
one or two lighthouses would obviate all risk. The most prom- 
inent mark about the southern entrance at present is Ship Island 
probably so called from a number of bare trees on it like the 
masts of a ship. Beyond the coast line a bold range of serrated 
mountains runs along the centre of the island, like a backbone, 
north and south, into the heart of which Alberni Channel pierces. 
Passing up the sound, several canoes with from two to half-a- 
dozen Indians in each hailed us with friendly shouts. They are 
squat in shape, dirtier, more savage, with a more decided cross- 
eye than the Indians on the main land. In all probability this 
side of America was peopled from Asia, and not necessarily 
round by Behring's Straits and the Aleutian Islands. Even in 
this century Japanese junks, dismasted in a typhoon or otherwise 
disabled, after drifting for months about the North Pacific have 
stranded on the American continent or been encountered by 
whaling ships, and the survivors of the crews rescued, in those 
cases where all had not perished of hunger. 



THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 343 

There are two or three trading posts and several Indian 
villages on Barclay Sound. The traders come to the posts in 
schooners at certain seasons of the year, and trade for peltries, 
seal-oil, and fish. The scenery along the sound and up the 
channel resembles Bute Inlet, except that the hills do not rise 
so sheer and high from the water and the wood is better. There 
are also larger extents of open alluvial ground at the mouths 
of streams that run into the sea, and along the valleys between 
the hills that they drain. At the head of Alberni, is the Sumass, 
a river of considerable size that drains large lakes in the interior 
and is said to be bordered by extensive tracts of fertile soil. At 
its mouth is enough good land for several farms, but there are 
no settlers. An English Company formerly worked saw-mills 
at this point, from which in 1862 over eight million feet of 
lumber were exported. The working of the mills has been 
abandoned, as the speculation did not pay, and the premises 
are now going to ruin. A walk round showed us one reason at 
least of the failure. Too much money had been sunk in house, 
orchard, outhouses, and other "fixtures" and improvements that 
yielded no return. No sane man would have started on such a 
scale with his own money. It was a sorry spectacle to see so 
many good buildings doorless and windowless, falling into decay 
or broken up by the Siwashes for wood to burn. In a country 
whose lumbering interests require development it is too bad that 
-capitalists should be deterred by such an example. 

Alberni harbour offers such decided advantages as a terminus 
that it may prove a formidable rival even to Esquimalt. 

After a bathe in the harbour, the water being wonderfully 
,warm for the time of year, we steamed out into the Ocean 
again, and got back in time to see a glorious sunset on the 
Pacific. The twilight continued for an hour after ; a band of 
carmine that shaded into orange and, higher up, into mauve, 
lingering so long over the horizon that we ceased to look at it, 



344 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

and only when turning into our berths, noticed that it had given 
way to the universal deep blue of the night sky. The sea was 
smooth and the night calm and beautiful as the preceding ; and 
in consequence we were at the wharf in Victoria harbour 
between four and five A. M., to the astonishment of the citizens 
who had not expected us back till the afternoon or next day. 

October, nth to 14th. — It had been assumed that the Princ. 
A If red steamer would leave Victoria for San Francisco on the 
twelfth ; but her day was changed to the fourteenth as she had 
to go to Nanaimo to coal. We had thus three days to spend in 
Victoria instead of one, and so great was the hospitality of the 
people that three months might have been spent enjoyably. 
Various as are the nationalities and religions represented in 
Victoria ; the people are wonderfully fused in one, and there is 
a general spirit of mutual toleration, kindness, and active good 
will that makes it a pleasant town to live in. Like the whole 
colony it is a poor man's paradise. Everyone seems to have 
plenty of money ; and every kind of labour receives enormous 
prices. There is no copper currency and the smallest silver piece 
is what is called ' a bit ' ; the ten cent and the English sixpence 
though of different values being alike called ' bits/ and given to 
children or put in church-door plates (there are no beggars) as 
cents or coppers are in all other countries. This absence of 
small coins has much to do with the general cost of living and 
the indifference to small profits characteristic of all classes here. 
The merest trifle costs ' a bit ' ; and though there are 25 and 50 
cent pieces in currency, yet, if anything is worth more than a 
bit, with a lofty indifference to the intermediate coins, the price 
is generally made a dollar. Emigrants on landing and men 
with fixed incomes are the chief sufferers from this state of 
things ; for as mechanics, labourers, and servants are paid accord- 
ingly, they like it, and speak with intensest scorn of the unfor- 
tunates who would devide ' a bit ' because they perhaps think 



THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. J4J 

it too much to give for a paper of pins or an apple. " John " who 
conies across the Pacific to make money and then return to the 
flowery land doesn't heed their scorn; and so, most of it was 
reserved before Confederation for canny Canadians who received 
the flattering appellation of North American Chinamen.. The 
Californians being as well supplied with gold and as lavish with 
it as the Victorians themselves. 

All this was very well in the halcyon days of the young 
Province, when gold-dust was accounted as nothing ; when 
miners who had been six months in Cariboo would come down 
to the capital and call for all the champagne in an hotel to 
wash their feet ; eat £10 notes as pills, or as a sandwich with a 
slice of pork, or light their pipes with them ; and when town 
lots commanded higher prices for the moment than in Frisco. 
But the tide turned ; the gold flowed out of the country to buy 
the champagne, and more necessary articles, instead of being 
spread abroad among resident farmers, or manufacturers ; 
Cariboo yielded less abundant harvests ; and the inflated pros- 
perity of Victoria collapsed. Lots that had been bought at 
from $10,000 to $25,000 have been sold since, it is said, for 
$500; the 15,000 people who lived around the city in tents 
have taken flight, like wild geese to more Southern climates ; 
and the then reputed millionaires are now content with a modest 
business. The virus however is still in the blood of the Victo- 
rians. They half expect that the good old times, when every 
man got rich without effort on his part, will come again ; that 
something will turn up ; new mines, or the railway being now 
the chief objects of reliance, to make business brisk. This 
delusion which belongs to the gambling rather than the true 
trading spirit retards the growth of the city : for it makes men 
hold on to house and business lots, or # demand sums for them 
far beyond their real value. A mere rumour last winter that 
Esquimalt was to be the terminus of the railway, at once sent. 



346 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

up real estate in its neighbourhood four or five fold. The balloon 
has been accustomed to gas, and is easily inflated again. Great 
part of the four miles between Esquimalt and Victoria is owned 
by a company called " the Puget Sound." This land is held at 
prices too high for settlers or gardeners to buy and improve, 
and thus it is that the suburbs do not present the cultivated 
appearance that might have been expected from the soil and 
fine climate. High prices for land and for everything else in 
and around the town, and extreme difficulty of obtaining infor- 
mation about good land elsewhere ; what condition of affairs 
could be more discouraging for emigrants or intending settlers ? 

An infusion of new blood is required. At present the classes 
that ought to come are servant girls, labourers, mechanics, 
miners, farm-servants and such like, for these would get remu- 
nerative employment at once ; and, gradually, land would be 
taken up, and money diffused in so many hands that there would 
be a healthy flow instead of the present comparative stagnation 
and universal waiting for " better times." 

In looking at Victoria and the surrounding coast the situation 
is so commanding that it is difficult to avoid speculating a little 
as to its probable future. The Island is at the end of the west 
and the beginning of the east. Behind it, over the mountains, 
stretch the virgin plains of our North-west extending to the 
Great Lakes. Fronting it, are the most ancient civilizations and 
the densest masses of humanity on the surface of the globe. 
With such a position, the harbours, minerals, fish, and timber of 
this colony all become important. If the " golden gate" be one 
passage-way between the old world and the new, the straits of 
Fuca and its harbours, the channels of Vancouver's Island and 
the inlets of the mainland are many. To our railway terminus 
will converge the products of Australia and Polynesia as well as 
of China and Japan ; and all that the busy millions of Great 
Britain need can be sent to them across their own territory, in- 



THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 347 

dependency of the changing phases of the eastern question. 
Neither the Suez Canal nor the Euphrates Valley can ever 
belong to England. But let there be a line of communication 
from the Pacific to the St. Lawrence through a succession of 
loyal Provinces bound up with the Empire by ever-multiplying 
and tightening links, and the future of the Fatherland and of the 
Great Empire of which she will then be only the Chief part is 
secured. With such a consummation in view, should not he be 
considered an enemy to the Common-weal who would dissever 
the western or American portion of so great an Empire from its 
foundation, from its capital and centre, simply because a belt of 
Ocean intervenes ; a belt too that is becoming less of an obstacle 
every year. For in a few years we shall have a Railway with 
but one break from the Pacific coast to the extreme easterly 
side of Newfoundland, and from thence daily steamers will cross 
the Atlantic in a hundred hours. Canada will be as near London 
then as Scotland and Ireland were forty years ago. It will then 
be easier to make the journey from Victoria to London than it 
was to make it from the North of Scotland at the beginning of 
the century. These results, however marvelous, will be due to 
steam alone. How much nearer to the core of the Empire may 
not Canada be considered with the means of instantaneous 
telegraphic communications extended to every part of the 
Dominion ? 

But it would be unworthy of our past to think in this connection 
only of material progress and national consolidation and security. 
Loftier have ever been the aims of our forefathers. It is not 
enough for us to allow Chinamen to come to our shores merely 
that, while living, they may do our rough work cheaply, repelled 
the while from us by systematic injustice and insult, and that when 
dead a Company may clear money by carrying their bodies back 
to their own land. A nation to be great must have great thoughts; 
must be inspired with lofty ideals ; must have men and women 



34$ OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

willing to work and wait and war ' for an idea.' To be a light 
to the dark places of the earth ; to rule inferior races mercifully 
and justly ; to infuse into them a higher life ; to give them ' the 
good news ' that makes men blessed and free, believing that as 
the race is one, reason one, and conscience one, there is one Gospel 
for and unto all ; nothing less than this was the thought — deeply 
felt if sometimes inarticulately expressed — of our great ancestors 
in the brave days of Old. And it is ours' also. By the possession 
of British Columbia and Vancouver's Island we look across 
into the very eyes of four hundred millions of heathen, a people 
eager to learn, acute to investigate, and whom the struggle for 
existence in thronged centres has made tolerant, patient, and 
hardy. Can we do nothing but trade with them ? 

October 14th. — To-day we left Esquimalt by the "Prince 
Alfred" on "the home stretch," friends on the wharf giving us 
kindly parting cheers. A delightful voyage of four days down 
the coast brought us to San Francisco ; a wonderful city ■ for its 
age,' though not equal to Melbourne, the only other city in the 
world it ought to be compared with. Doubtless it is a fine thing 
to escape frost and snow; but some people would endure all the 
snow-storms of Quebec or Winnipeg rather than one sand-storm 
in Frisco. 

On Saturday morning Oct. 19th we breakfasted at the Lick 
House, San Francisco. On Saturday the 26th we breakfasted 
at home in Ottawa. 



And how does the country crossed by the Union and Central 
Pacific Railways compare with our own north-west, has been 
asked us since our return? Comparisons are odious and therefore 
the answer shall be as brief as possible. The Pacific slope 
excepted, for there is nothing in British Columbia to compare 
with the fertile valleys of California, everything is so completely 



THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 349 

in our favour that there is really no comparison except the old 
racing one of "Eclipse first and the rest nowhere." California 
itself, though its yield of wheat in favourable years is marvellous, 
is not a country to rear a healthy and hardy race. There is no 
summer or autumn rain-fall; the air is without its due propor- 
tion of moisture; and the lack of moisture is supplied by dust. 
The people look enervated, weary, and used up. In the course 
of a generation or two, unless a constant infusion of fresh blood 
renews their strength, the influences of climate must tell 
disastrously not only on their physique but on their whole spirit 
and life. Are Anglo-Saxons secure from falling into the same 
sleepy and unprogressive state, that' the energetic Spaniards, who 
first settled the country, soon sank into? 

But when we leave California and travel from twelve to fifteen 
hundred miles, through Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, and Eastern 
Nebraska, the contrast with our North-west is startling. Certainly 
population has been attracted to various points over this vast 
region. The Mormons with infinite toil and patience, have 
made the deserts of Utah bring forth food for man and beast, 
but they are deserts notwithstanding and yield nothing unless 
carefully irrigated ; and the mean houses of logs or adobe — as 
sun dried clay bricks are called, — and the unintelligent careworn 
countenances of the people do not testify very eloquently in 
favour of Utah. The State of Nevada is rich in minerals, 
especially in silver ; and the railway has been the means 
of developing these to a great extent, while the export of the 
bullion supplies to the railway a considerable local trafic. Along 
the Humboldt, and in side valleys, large herds of stock are fed ; 
and in parts of Wyoming, and Eastern Nebraska also, stock 
raising is carried on with profit. But what a country to live in ! 
Every where it has a uniform dry, dusty, or what an Australian 
writer would call " God-forsaken " look. For more than a 
thousand miles not a tree or shrub except sage-brush or grease- 



3$0 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

wood, relieves the desolation. And yet this is the country that 
guide books describe as if it were the garden of the Lord, and to 
which they summon the millions of Europe. As we sat in the 
railway train and read the description of the land we were passing 
through ; read of boundless tracts of the finest pasturage in the 
world ; of free soil on which anything and everything could be 
raised, of slopes that would yet be clad with vines and bear the 
rarest fruits ; and then looked out of the window and saw 
limitless stretches of desert or semi-desert, high, arid, alkaline 
plateaus, dotted scantily with miserable sage-brush, hundreds of 
miles withont a blade of grass, a soil composed of disintegrated 
lava and hard clay, or disintegrated granite or sandstone, or a 
conglomerate of the two, we could hardly believe our eyes. The 
American desert is a great reality. It is utterly unfit for the 
growth of cereals or to support in any way a farming population,, 
because of its elevation, its lack of rain, and the miserable qua- 
lity, or to speak more correctly, the absence, of soil. The enter- 
prise that ran "the pony express," that constructed telegraphs, 
and a line of Railway across such a country is wonderful ; but 
not half so wonderful as the faith that sees in such a desert an 
earthly paradise, or the assurance that publishes its visions of" 
what ought to be, for pictures of what is, or the courage that 
volunteers the sacrifice of any number of foreigners to prove the 
sincerity of its faith. 

In a word, after reaching the summit of the first range of 
mountains, from the Pacific, the railway in the United States 
has to cross more than a thousand miles of desert or semi-desert. 
According to the evidence of our senses, whatever guide-books 
may say to the contrary, we discovered on " the home stretch " 
that the great west of the United States, practically ceases with, 
the valley of the Missouri and of its tributary the Platte. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CONCLUSION. 

Crossing and re-crossing the Continent.— Writers on the North-west.— Mineral wealth, 
behind Lake Superior.— The " Fertile-belt."— Our fellow travellers.— The " Rain- 
bow " of the North-west.— Peace River.— Climate compared with Ontario.— Natural 
Tiches of the Country. — The Russia of America. — Its army of construction. — The 
pioneers.— Esprit de corps. — Hardships and hazards. — Mournful death-roll. — The 
work of construction —Vast breadth of the Dominion.— Its varied features.— Its 
exhaustless resources.— Its constitution.— Its Queen. * 

The preceding chapters are transcribed —almost verbally — 
from a Diary that was written from day to day on our journey 
from Ocean, Ocean-ward. The Diary was kept under many 
difficulties. Notes had to be taken, sometimes in the bottom 
of a canoe and sometimes leaning against a stump or a tree ; on. 
horseback in fine weather, under a cart when it was raining or 
when the sun's rays were fierce ; at night, in the tent, by the 
light of the camp-fire in front ; in a crowded wayside inn, or 
on the deck of a steamer in motion. And they were written out 
in the first few weeks after our return, as it was desirable, — if 
published at all — that they should be in the printers hands at 
once. 

As may be seen by a reference to the Itinerary in the Ap- 
pendix, our Diary commenced at Halifax on the Atlantic coast 
on July 1st the sixth anniversary of the birth-day of the Dominion, 
and closed at Victoria on the Pacific coast on October nth. 
The aggregate distance travelled by one mode of locomotion or 
another was more than five thousand miles, a great part of it 
over comparatively unknown, and therefore supposed to be 
dangerous country. We recrossed the Continent to our starting 
point by rail, the Secretary arriving at Halifax on November 2nd, 
having thus accomplished the round trip of nine or ten thousand 
miles in four months. None of us suffered from Indians, wild 

(351) 



;352 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

beasts, the weather, or any of the hardships incidental to travel 
in a new and lone land. Every one looked, and was, physically 
better on his return than when he had set out. And yet there 
had been no playing on the foad. We cannot charge ourselves 
with having lost an hour on the way ; and Manitobans, Hudson's 
Bay Officers, and British Columbians all informed us that we 
made better time between Lake Superior and the Pacific than 
ever had been made before in these latitudes. 

It is only fair to the public to add that the writer of the 
Diary knew little or nothing of our North-west before accom- 
panying the expedition. To find out something about the real 
extent and resources of our Dominion ; to know whether we 
had room and verge for an Empire or were doomed to be merely 
a cluster of Atlantic Provinces, ending to the west in a fertile 
but comparatively insignificant peninsula in Lake Huron, was 
the object that attracted a busy man from his ordinary work, 
on what friends called an absurd and perilous enterprise. All 
that is claimed for the preceding chapters is, that they record 
truthfully what we saw and heard. And having read since the 
works of Professor Hind, Archbishop Tache, Captain Palliser 
and others, we find, that though these contain the results of 
much more minute and extended enquiries and scientific informa- 
tion which renders them permanently valuable, they bring 
forward nothing to make us modify our own conclusions, or to 
lessen the impression as to the value of our North-west, that the 
sight of it produced in our own minds. 

We are satisfied that the rugged and hitherto unknown country 
extending from the upper Ottawa to the Red River of the 
north, is not, as it has always been represented on maps executed 
by our neighbours, and copied by ourselves, impracticable for a 
Railway ; but entirely the reverse ; that those vast regions of 
Laurentian and Huronian rocks once pronounced worthless, are 
rich in minerals beyond conception, rich in gold, silver, copper, 



conclusion. 353 

iron, tin, phosphates of lime, and — strange as the assertion may 
appear — probably coal; that in the iron back-ground to the basin 
of the St. Lawrence, hitherto considered valuable only for its 
lumber, great centres of mining and manufacturing industry, 
shall in the near future, spring into existence ; and that for the 
development of all this wealth, only the construction of a Rail- 
way is necessary. 

Beyond those apparently wilderness regions we came upon 
the fertile belt, an immense tract of the finest land in the world, 
bounded on the west by coal formations so extensive that all 
other coal fields are small in comparison. Concerning this 
central part of the Continent, we have testified that which we 
have seen, and as a summary it is sufficient to quote Hind's 
emphatic words, Vol. II, p. 234: 

•* It Is a physical reality of the highest importance to the interests of 
" British North America that a continuous belt, rich in water, woods and 
•' pasturage can be settled and cultivated from a few miles west of the lake 
*' of the Woods, to the passes of the Rocky Mountains ; and any line of 
** communication, whether by waggon road or railroad, passing through it, 
" will eventually enjoy the great advantage of being fed by an agricultural 
" population, from one extremity to the other." 

Concerning the country from the Mountains to the sea, it is 
unnecessary to add anything here. The mountains in British 
Columbia certainly offer obstructions to Railway construction ; 
but these obstacles are not insuperable, and, once overcome, we 
reach the Canadian Islands in the Pacific, Vancouver and Queen 
Charlotte, — in many respects the counter parts of Great Britain 
and Ireland, the western out posts of Europe, — our western 
-islands are rich in coal, bitumenous and anthracite, and almost 
every variety of mineral wealth, in lumber, fish, and soil, and 
blessed with one of the most delightful climates in the world. 

And now we might take farewell of the reader who has accom- 
panied us on our long journey, but before doing so, it seems not 
W 



354 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

unfitting to add a few words concerning the routes of our fellow- 
travellers who parted from us at Forts Garry and Edmonton ; 
concerning those men whom we found engaged on the survey, 
and the general impressions left on our minds by all that we saw 
and experienced. 

The Colonel spent ten days in Manitoba inspecting the military 
force on duty at Fort Garry, the Stone Fort and Pembina. 
Leaving Fort Garry, he travelled rapidly to Edmonton by the 
same trail that we had taken, in the hope of overtaking us 
before we had left for the mountains. Finding on his arrival that 
we had started seven days previously, he wisely decided to 
proceed 145 miles south-west to the Rocky Mountain House ; 
thence, through the country of the Blackfeet, to cross the moun- 
tains by North Kootenay Pass ; and thence into Washington 
Territory, U. S., and via Olympia to Victoria. He accomplished 
the journey successfully, though detained for two or three days 
by a snow-storm at the foot of the mountains ; but as the delay 
enabled him to shoot a large grizzley bear that approached 
within a few yards of his camp, he had no reason to regret it 
much. His southerly march from Edmonton gave him the 
opportunity of seeing the western curve of the fertile belt — " the 
rainbow of the North-west " — and he speaks of it, especially of 
that portion through the Blackfeet country, extending for about 
300 miles along the eastern bases of the Rocky Mountains 
towards the international boundary line, with a varying breadth 
of from 60 to 80 miles, as the future garden of the Dominion ; 
magnificent in regard to scenery, with soil of surpassing richness; 
and in respect of climate, with an average temperature during 
the winter months, 1 5 ° higher than that of the western portion 
of the Province ot Ontario. 

But we are now able to speak concerning a northwestern 
curve of the fertile belt as positively as of the district to the south 
which the Colonel traversed. At Edmonton, the Chief sent the 



conclusion. -355 

Botanist and Horetzky northwards, with instructions to proceed 
by Forts Assiniboine and Dunvegan and across the Rocky- 
Mountains by Peace River, the one to make then for the Upper 
Fraser, and the other to go still farther north and reach the sea 
by the Skeena or Nasse River. They also succeeded in their 
iourney ; and their reports more than confirm the statements of 
previous writers with regard to the extraordinary fertility of 
immense prairies along the Peace River, the salubrity, and the 
comparative mildness of the climate. It is quite clear that 
exceptional climatic causes are at work along the eastern flank 
of the Rocky Mountains, north as well as south of Edmonton. 
Whether the chief cause be warm moist winds from the Pacific 
or a steady current of warm air under the lee of the mountains, 
analogous in the atmosphere, to the Gulf stream in the ocean, 
or whatever the cause, our knowledge is too imperfect to enable 
us to say. But the great salient facts are undoubted. At Fort 
Dunvegan, six degrees north of Fort Garry, and nearly thirteen 
north of Toronto, the winters are milder than at Fort Garry ; and 
as for the seven months, from April to October, the period of 
cultivation, according to tables that have been carefully compiled, 
Dunvegan and Toronto do not vary more than about half a 
degree in mean temperature, while as compared with Halifax 
N. S., the difference is I ° 69' in favour of Dunvegan. Our two 
fellow-travellers assured us also that they had seen nothing 
between the Red River and Edmonton to compare with the 
fertility of soil and the beauty of the country about Peace River. 
They struck the mighty stream below Dunvegan and sailed on 
it up into the very heart of the Rocky Mountains, through a 
* charming country, rich in soil, wood, water, and coal, in salt that 
can be gathered fit for the table, from the sides of springs with 
as much ease as sand from the sea-shore; in bitumenous foun- 
tains into which Sir Alexander MeKenzie and Harmon both 
say that " a pole of twenty feet in length may be plunged, 



356 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

without the least resistance, and without finding bottom," and in 
every other production that is essential to the material prosperity 
of a country. 

The following extract from the Journal of our Botanist gives 
a graphic description of what Peace River itself is ; — " This 
" afternoon we passed through the most enchanting and sublime 
u scenery. The right bank of the River was clothed with wood- 
" spruce, birch and aspen, except where two steep, or where 
u there had been landslides. In many places the bank rose 
" from the shore to the height of from 300 to 600 feet. Sand- 
" stone cliffs, 300 feet high, often showed, especially above 
" Green Island. The left bank was as high as the right, but 
" instead of wood, grassy slopes met the view ; but landslides 
" always revealed sandstone. In places, the river had cut a 
" passage through the sandstone to the depth of 300 feet and 
u yet the current indicated little increase. The river was full 
" from bank to bank, was fully 600 yards wide, and looked 
" like a mighty canal cut by giants through a mountain. Up 
" this we sped at the rate of four miles an hour, against the 
" current, in a large boat belonging to the Hudson's Bay Coy.; 
" propelled by a north-east gale." 

When we remember that the latitude of this river and the 
richest part of the country it waters is nearly a thousand miles 
north of the Lake Ontario, the language we have used about 
it may sound exaggerated because the facts seem unaccountable. 
But the facts have been long on record. The only difficulty 
was the inaccessibility of the country. In Harmons Journal 
are such entries as the following : — 

■ Peace River, April 18, 1809. — This morning the ice in the 
" river broke up." 

April 30th is shown by the public records, to be the mean time of opening of navigation 
at Ottawa, between 1832 and 1870. During that period, 38 years, April 17th was the earliest 
and May 29th the latest days of opening. 



CONCLUSION. 357 

" May 6. — The surrounding plains are all on fire. We have 
" planted our potatoes, and sowed most of our garden seeds." 

"July 21. — We have cut down our barley ; and I think it is 
" the finest that I ever saw in any country." 

" October 6. — As the weather begins to be cold, we have taken 
" our vegetables out of the ground, which we find to be very 
" productive." 

Another year we have the following entry : — 

" October 3. — We have taken our vegetables out of the ground. 
" We have 41 bushels of potatoes, the produce of one bushel 
" planted the last spring. Oar turnips, barley, etc., have produced 
" well." 

In the journal of a Hudson's Bay Chief-factor published last 
year by Malcolm McLeod, Ottawa, is the following extract con- 
cerning the climate of Dunvegan, from the records of the cele- 
brated traveller and astronomer — Mr. David Thompson : — 

" Only twice in the month of May 1803, — on the 2nd and 14th, 
" did the thermometer fall to 30 ° . Frost did not occur in the 
" fall till the 27th September." 

" It freezes," says Mr. Russell, " much later in May in Canada ; 
" and at Montreal, for seven years out of the last nine, the first 
"frost occurred between 24th August and 1 6th September." 

In Halifax, N. S., the writer has seen a lively snow-storm on 
the Queen's birth-day ; and almost every year there is frost 
early in June. 

Similar quotations could be given from other writers, but they 
are unnecessary. We know that we have a great North-west, a 
country like old Canada — not suited for lotus-eaters to live in, 
but fitted to rear a healthy and hardy race. The late Hon. W. 
H. Seward understood this" when he declared that "vigorous, 
perennial, ever-growing Canada would be a Russia behind the 
United States." Our future is grander than even that conceived 
by Mr. Seward, because the elements that determine it are other 



358 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

than those considered by him. We shall be more than an 
American Russia, because the separation from Great Britain to 
which he invites us is not involved in our manifest destiny. We 
believe that union is better than disunion, that loyalty is a better 
guarantee for true growth than restlessness or rebellion, that 
building up is worthier work than pulling down. The ties that 
bind us to the Fatherland must be multiplied, the connection 
made closer and politically complete. Her traditions, her forms, 
her moral elevation, her historic grandeur shall be ours forever. 
And if we share her glory, we shall not shrink even at the outset 
from sharing her responsibilities. 



A great future beckons us as a people onward. To reach it, 
God grant to us purity and faith, deliverance from the lust of 
personal aggrandizement, unity, and invincible steadfastness of 
purpose. The battles we have to fight are those of peace, but 
they are not the less serious and they are surely nobler than 
those of war. The victories we require to gain are over all forms 
of political corruption, the selfish spirit of separation, and those 
great material obstacles in the conquest of which the spirit of 
patriotism is strengthened. It is a standing army of engineers, 
axemen and brawny labourers that we require, men who will 
not only give "a fair day's work for a fair day's wage," but whose 
work shall be ennobled by the thought that they are in the 
service of their country and labouring for its consolidation. Why 
should there not be a high esprit de corps among men who are 
doing the country's work as well as among those who do its 
warfare? And why should the country grudge its honours to 
servants on whose faithfulness so much depends? "There is 
many a red-coat who is no soldier," said the Duke of Wellington. 
Conversely, there are true soldiers who wear only a red shirt. 








- 

s 

O 



CONCLUSION. 359 

This thought leads us to make mention of the men who have 
been engaged for the last two years in connection with the 
Canadian Pacific Railway Survey, the pioneers of the great army 
that must be engaged on the construction of the work and on 
whom has devolved the heavy labour that commonly falls to the 
lot of an advance-guard. On our journey we met several of 
the surveying parties, and could form some estimate of the work 
they had to do. We could see that continuous labour for one 
or two years in solitary wilderness or mountain gorges as sur- 
veyor, transit-man, leveller, rodman, commissary, or even packer, 
is a totally different thing from taking a trip across the continent 
for the first time, when the perpetual novelty, the spice of 
romance, the risks and pleasures atone for all discomforts. Here 
are one or two instances of the spirit that animates the body. 

The gentleman now at the head of party X had commenced 
work in charge of another party between Lake Superior and 
the Upper Ottawa. He remained out during the whole summer 
and winter in that trackless rugged region, previously untrodden 
by white men and rarely visited by Indians. After a severe 
winter campaign, he completed the difficult and hazardous 
service entrusted to him. On his return in the spring, he was 
told that it was desirable that he should go to British Columbia 
without delay ; and, though he had not spent two weeks with 
his family in as many years, he started at once. 

Near the end of the year just closed, the Chief was called 
upon to send a party to explore the section of country between 
the North Saskatchewan, above Edmonton, and the Jasper 
valley. It was deemed advisable to examine this wild and 
wooded district in the winter season, on account of the numerous 
morasses and muskegs which rendered it next to impassable at 
any other season. The party most available for this service had 
been engaged during the summer and winter of 1 87 1 and the 
whole of 1872 in the lake region east of Manitoba, and had re- 



360 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

turned to Fort Garry after completing satisfactorily their 
arduous work. The Chief asked, by telegraph, the Engineer in 
charge if he was prepared to start at short notice for the Rocky 
Mountains on a prolonged service. Almost immediately after 
sending this message, the following telegram was received from 
the gentleman referred to. " May I have leave of absence to 
return home for a few weeks on urgent private business ?" This 
was at once followed by another; "Your message received. I 
withdraw my application for leave. I am prepared to start for 
the Rocky Mountains with my party. Please send instructions." 
It was evident that the first two telegrams had crossed. The 
members of party M, notwithstanding what they had gone 
through, away from friends and the comforts of society, were 
ready to undertake a march of a thousand miles still farther 
away, in the dead of a Canadian winter. 

And what was the journey ? They knew that it implied hard- 
ships such as Captain Butler encountered, and which he so 
graphically describes in " The Great Lone Land." They knew 
that it meant a great deal more. The journey over, they were 
only at the beginning of their work, and the work would be 
infinitely more trying than the journey itself. 

These are only two instances out of many of that ' Ready, aye 
Ready ' spirit, which the British people rightly honour as the 
highest quality in their soldiers, from the lowest to the highest 
grades. With respect to the ordinary everyday work that has 
to be done, our own little experience gave us some idea of its 
discomforts. Among the mountains, there is hardly a day with- 
out rain, except when it snows. Leather gives way under the 
alternate rotting and grinding processes that swamps and rocks 
subject it to. Mocassins keep out the wet about as well as an 
extra pair of socks. Clothes are patched and re-patched until 
lock-stock-and-barrell are changed. At night you lie -down wet, 
lucky if the blanket is dry. In the morning you rise to a rough 



CONCLUSION. 361 

breakfast of tea, pork and beans. When relations at home are 
just enjoying the sweet half-hour's sleep before getting up, you 
are off into the dark silent woods, or clambering up precipices to 
which the mists ever cling, or on the rocky banks of some roaring 
river, the sound of which has become positively hateful ; getting 
back to camp at night tired and hungry, but still thankful if a 
good day's work has been accomplished. And this same thing 
goes on from week to week, — working, eating, sleeping. Books 
are scarce for they are too bulky to carry ; no newspapers and 
no news — unless fragments from three to six months old, 
strangely metamorphosed by Packers and Indians, can be digni- 
fied by the name of news. Nothing occurs to break the mo- 
notony save rheumatism, festered hands or feet, or a touch of 
sickness, perhaps scurvy if the campaign has been long : the 
arrival of a pack-train with supplies, or some such interesting 
event as the following, which we found duly chronicled on a 
blazed tree, between Moose Lake and Tete Jaune Cache : — 

" BIRTH, 

"Monday, 5th August 1872. 

w This morning at about 5 o'clock. ■ Aunt Polly,' bell-mare to 
" the Nth. Thompson-trail parties pack-train, was safely delivered 
" of a Bay Colt, with three white legs and white star on forehead. 

" This wonderful progeny of a C. P. R. Survey's pack-train, is 
" in future to be known, to the racing community of the Pacific 
" slope, as Rocky Mountain Ned." 

The Sunday rest and the next meal, are almost the only 
pleasures looked forward to ; and the enjoyment of eating arises, 
generally, not from the delicacies or variety of the fare, but from 
the appetite brought to it ; for luxuries, as we had considered 
fat pork, porridge, good bread, and coffee, after three weeks on 
pemmican, they need all the zest that hard work and mountain 
air can supply, in order to be thoroughly enjoyed three times a 
day, week in and week out 



362 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

In addition to all the — not ordinary but — extraordinary dis- 
comforts attending this class of work there are the dangers to 
life, inseparable from the great extent of the work undertaken ; 
the rapidity with which it was begun and pushed forward ; 
extensives fires in the forest ; drowning, while endeavouring to 
make the passage of some lake or river in a frail canoe or on a 
raft ; to say nothing of starvation, which, notwithstanding the 
utmost care and forethought, might, nay in some instances did 
very nearly, occur, in consequence of accidents, like the two last 
named, befalling some of the Commissariat department. 

But this survey work implies more than hardships and 
hazards. Already it has connected with its history a mournful 
death-roll. At the outset, some tribes of Indians were expected 
to give trouble. On the contrary, they have for the most part 
been friendly and helpful. When nearly a thousand men were 
engaged directly or indirectly on the work, and scattered over 
pathless regions over a whole* continent, it would not have been 
wonderful had supplies failed to reach some parties, and death 
by starvation occurred. In no case has such a disaster yet hap- 
pened. But there are forces that can neither be organized nor 
bribed. Fourteen men have been destroyed by the elements ; 
seven by fire, and seven by water ; destroyed so completely that 
no trace has been found of the bodies of ten. 

One party, — seven in number, — engaged in carrying provisions 
north of Lake Superior, was surprised by the wide-spread forest 
fires that raged over the west in the autumn of 187 1. The body 
of only one of its number could be discovered. 

In the spring of 1872, a party that had finished its work well, 
after an arduous winter campaign far up the Ottawa beyond 
Lake Temiscamang, prepared to return home. The gentleman in 
charge and one of his assistants separated from the rest, to take 
on board their canoe two others who had been previously left at 
a side post prostrated with scurvy. The four were known to 



CONCLUSION. 363 

have then started down the river. That was the last seen of 
them, though the upturned canoe was found, and it told its own 
tale of an upset by rock or rapid or awkward movement of the 
sick men into ice-cold lake or river. 

In the autumn of 1872, three others, on their way to begin 
their winter's work, were shipwrecked and drowned in the Geor- 
gian Bay. 

All those men died in the service of their country as truly as 
if they had been killed in battle. Some of them have left behind 
wives and little children, aged parents, young brothers or sisters, 
who were dependent on them for support. Have not those a 
claim on the country that ought not to be disregarded ? 

That this work is too seldom looked at from any other save 
the " wages " point of view, is our excuse for putting the real 
state of the case warmly. Who are the men whose disciplined 
enthusiasm enables them to manifest the self-sacrifice we have 
alluded to? Many of them are men of good birth and education, 
who have chosen the profession of Engineering as one in which 
their talents can be made in a marked degree subservient to the 
material prosperity of mankind. Others have chosen it because 
of its supposed freedom from routine, and the prospect it is 
thought to offer of novelty, adventure, and such a roving life as 
every young Briton or Canadian, with any of the old blood 
in his veins, longs for. 

And what 'wages' do these men, who deserve so well of their 
country, receive? Simply their pay by the month! They do 
not know whether they will have the satisfaction — that every 
man interested in his work has the right to look forward to — of 
seeing their work finished by themselves. Even after the pre- 
liminary surveys are completed, and the work placed under 
contract, the tenure of office is insecure. Sometimes a clamour 
is raised, against the presumed extravagance of the Government, 
when the newspapers have nothing more stirring to write about, 



364 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

or when some reporter fancies he has not received due attention. 
At other times, some unfeeling and unprincipled contractors 
conspire to effect the removal of men, whose only fault is that 
they have performed their duty faithfully. From these or other 
similar causes, engineers in the public service are sometimes 
most unjustly sacrificed. And, if remonstrance is made, the 
answer is ready. — 'They received their pay for the time they 
were employed, and others, quite as competent, are ready and 
willing to take their places.' — Yes, and the same might be said 
of the officers and men of the British army, but they are treated 
very differently. The work performed on one of the military 
expeditions, such as the Abyssinian or Red River, about which 
so much has been written, and which are said to have shed such 
lustre on the British name, is really not more arduous than theirs 
The heaviest part of a soldier's duty on such expeditions it is 
well known is the long laborious marching. The work of 
engineers on the survey is a constant march ; their shelter, even 
in the depth of winter, often only canvass; they have sometimes 
to carry their food for long distances, through swamps and over 
fallen trees, on their backs; and run all the risks incidental to such 
a life, without medical assistance, without notice from the press, 
without the prospect of plunder or promotion, ribands or pen- 
sions. To be sure theirs is the work of construction only, and the 
world has always given greater prominence to the work of 
destruction. 

To construct is "the duty that lies nearest us." "We therefore 
will rise up and build." Our young Dominion in grappling with 
so great a work has resolutely considered it from a national and 
not a strictly financial point of view ; knowing that whether it 
'pays' directly or not, it is sure to pay indirectly. Other young 
countries have had to spend, through long years, their strength 
and substance to purchase freedom or the right to exist. Our 
lot is a happier one. Protected "against infection and the hand 



s 




CONCLUSION. 365 

of war" by the might of Britain, we have but to go forward, to 
open up for our children and the world what God has given into 
our possession, bind it together, consolidate it, and lay the 
foundations of an enduring future. 

Looking back over the vast breadth of the Dominion when 
Our journeyings were ended, it rolled out before us like a 
panorama, varied and magnificent enough to stir the dullest 
spirit into patriotic emotion. For nearly 1,000 miles by railway 
between different points east of Lake Huron; 2,185 miles by 
horses, including coaches, waggons, pack, and saddle-horses ; 
1,687 miles in steamers in the basin of the St. Lawrence and on 
Pacific waters . and 485 miles in canoes or row-boats ; we had 
travelled in all 5,300 miles between Halifax and Victoria, over 
a country with features and resources more varied than even our 
modes of locomotion. 

From the sea-pastures and coal-fields of Nova Scotia and the 
forests of New Brunswick, almost from historic Louisburg up the 
St. Lawrence to historic Quebec -, through the great Province of 
Ontario, and on lakes that are really seas ; by copper and silver 
mines so rich as to recall stories of the Arabian Nights, though 
only the rim of the land has been explored ; on the chain of 
lakes, where the Ojibbeway is at home in his canoe, to the great 
plains, where the Cree is equally at home on his horse ; through 
the prairie Province of Manitoba, and rolling meadows and 
park-like country, equally fertile, out of which a dozen Manitobas 
shall be carved in the next quarter of a century; along the 
banks of 

A full-fed river winding slow 
By herds upon an endless plain, 

full-fed from the exhaustless glaciers of the Rocky Mountains, 
and watering * the great lone land;' over illimitable coal 
measures and deep woods; on to the mountains, which open 
their gates, more widely than to our wealthier neighbours, to lead 



366 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

us to the Pacific ; down deep gorges filled with mighty timber, 
and rivers whose ancient deposits are gold beds, sands like those 
of Pactolus and channels choked with fish ; on to the many- 
harbours of mainland and island, that look right across to the 
old Eastern Thule ' with its rosy pearls and golden-roofed 
palaces,' and open their arms to welcome the swarming millions 
of Cathay ; over all this we had travelled, and it was all our 
own. 

" Where's the coward that would not dare 
To fight for such a land ?" 

Thank God, we have a country. It is not our poverty of land, 
or sea, of wood or mine that shall ever urge us to be traitors. 
But the destiny of a country depends not on its material 
resources. It depends on the character of its people. Here, too, 
is full ground for confidence. We in everything " are sprung, 
of earth's first blood, have titles manifold." We come of a 
race that never counted the number of its foes, nor the 
number of its friends, when freedom, loyalty, or God was con- 
cerned. 

Two courses are possible, though it is almost an insult to say 
there are two, for the one requires us to be false to our tradi- 
tions and history, to our future, and to ourselves. A third course 
has been hinted at ; but only dreamers or emasculated intellects 
would seriously propose " Independence " to four millions of 
people, face to face with thirty-eight millions. Some one may have 
even a fourth to propose. The Abbe Sieyes had a cabinet filled 
with pigeon-holes, in each of which was a cut-and-dried Constitu- 
tion for France. Doctrinaires fancy that at any time they can 
say, ' go to, let us make a Constitution,' and that they can fit it 
on a nation as readily as new coats on their backs. There never 
was a profounder mistake. A nation grows, and its Constitution 
must grow with it. The nation cannot be pulled up by the 
roots, — cannot be dissociated from its past, without danger to its 



CONCLUSION. 367 

highest interests. Loyalty is essential to its fulfilment of a 
distinctive mission, — essential to its true glory. Only one course 
therefore is possible for us, consistent with the self-respect that 
alone gains the respect of others ; to seek, in the consolidation 
of the Empire, a common Imperial citizenship, with common 
responsibilities, and a common inheritance. 

With childish impatience and intolerance of thought on the 
subject, we are sometimes told that a Republican form of 
Government and Republican institutions, are the same as our 
own. But they are not ours. Besides, they are not the same in 
themselves ; they are not the same in their effects on character. 
And, as we are the children even more than we are the fathers 
and framers of our national institutions, our first duty is to hold 
fast these political forms, the influences of which on national 
character have been proved by the tests of time and comparison 
to be the most ennobling. Republicanism is one-sided. Despotism 
is other-sided. The true form should combine and harmonize 
both sides. 

The favourite principle of Robertson, of Brighton, that the 
whole truth in the realm of the moral and spiritual consists in 
the union of two truths that are contrary but not contradictory, 
applies also to the social and political. What two contrary 
truths then lie at the basis of a complete National Constitution ? 
First, that the will of the people is the will of God. Secondly, 
that the will of God must be the will of the people. That the 
people are the ultimate fountain of all power is one truth. That 
Government is of God, and should be strong, stable, and above 
the people is another. In other words, the elements of liberty 
and of authority should both be represented. A republic is 
professedly based only on the first. In consequence, all popular 
appeals are made to that which is lowest in our nature, for such 
appeals are made to the greatest number and are most likely to 
be immediately successful. The character of public men and 



368 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 

the national character deteriorate. Neither dignity, elevation 
of sentiment, nor refinement of manners is cultivated. Still more 
fatal consequences, the very ark of the nation is carried period- 
ically into heady fights ; for the time being, the citizen has no 
country; he has only his party, and the unity of the country is 
constantly imperilled. On the other hand, a despotism is based 
•entirely on the element of authority. 

To unite those elements, in due proportions, has been and is 
the aim of every true statesman. Let the history of liberty and 
progress, of the development of human character to all its right- 
ful issues, testify where they have been more wisely blended 
than in the British Constitution. 

We have a fixed centre of authority and government, a foun- 
tain of honour above us that all reverence, from which a thousand 
gracious influences come down to every rank ; and, along with 
that fixity, representative institutions, so elastic that they respond 
within their own sphere to every breath of popular sentiment, 
instead of a cast-iron yoke for four years. In harmony with 
this central part of our constitution, we ha^e an independent 
judiciary instead of judges — too often the creatures of wealth, 
adventurers on the mere echoes of passing popular sentiment. — 
And, more valuable than even the direct advantages, are the 
subtle, indirect influences that flow from our living in unbroken 
connection with the old land, and the dynamical if imponderable 
forces that determine the tone and mould the character of a 
people. 

"In our halls is hung armoury of the invincible knights of old." 
Ours' are the old history, the misty past, the graves of forefathers. 
Ours the names 'to which a thousand memories call.' Ours is 
the flag ; ours the Queen whose virtues transmute the sacred 
principle of loyalty into a personal affection. 



OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
SANDFORD FLEMING'S OVERLAND EXPEDITION. 

Journey from Halifax, on the North Atlantic, to Victoria, on the North 
Pacific, between July 1st and October 11th 1872. 









Estimated miles travelled. 


DATE. 


Designation of places by the way. 


LAND 


WATEE 


TOTAL 


1872 




RaU 


Horses 


Stea'r 


Canoe 




July 1. 


From Halifax, along the 
route ofthelntercolonial 
Railway, under con- 
struction and partly in 
operation, to Riviere du 
Loup. 

From Riviere du Loup 
along the Grand Trunk. 
St. Lawrence & Ottawa 
and Northern Railways 
to Oollingwood. 

From Oollingwood by 
steamer through the 
Georgian Bay, Lake 
Huron and Lake Super- 
ior to Thunder Bay. 

From Thunder Bay along 

the Dawson route to 

Fort Garry.*Camp No.l. 

" 2. 

3. 

" 4. 

« 5. 

" 6. 

" 7. 

" 8. 

" 9. 

" 10. 


To Truro 


61 
50 
19 


76 

"*45 

80 
110 

66 


115 


















" Bathurst 






























11 Quebec 




622 


July 9. 


126 
166 
166 
275 
94 




















" Toronto 














827 


July 16. 






45 

100 
135 

50 
115 
150 
100 




" Killarney 






























" Michipicoten Island 


















" Thunder Bay 
















695 


July 22. 

23. 




45 




60 
35 
61 

60 

90 

6 

70 


24. 


" Brule Pcrtfge 






25. 












26. 


" American Portage-. 










27 










28. 


" Hungry Hall 










29. 












29. 












30. 

31. 


" Oak Point. 

" Government House. 


1 


80 
30 




539 



Carried Forward 2,683 



Camps numbered Irom Lake superior. 



370 



OCEAN TO OCEAN*. 
ITINERA R K— Continued. 



1872 



Aue. 1. 



Estimated miles travelled. 



Designation of places by the way. 



| Horses Jstea'r Canoe 



Brought forward 
From Fort Garry to Stone 
Fort and back. To Government House.' 



Camp. 

From Fort Garry No. 11. 

to Fort Ellice.* " 12. 

11 13. 

" 14. 

" 15. 

" 16. 



From Fort Ellice 
to Fort Carlton. 



i ; rom Fort Carlton 
to Fort Pitt. 



22, From Fort Pitt to 
28. Fort Edmonton. 
24. 

2ft 
27 



so. 

Sept. 1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
8. 
7. 
S. 

10. 

i. 



From Ft. Edmon- 
ton to Jasper 
House. 



25. 



40 



White Horse Plains. 33 

Rat Creek 

Three Creeks 24 

Camp Assiniboine ! 40 

SaltLake | 41 

Qu'Appelle j 45 



Broken Arm River. 

Lonely Tree 

Little Touchwood.. . 



Touchwood 

Quill Lake Plain ■ 

Round Hill 

S. Saskatchewan. 
Fort Carlton 



Bears Paddling La. 



Jack-fish River. 
English Rivei.. 
Fort Pitt Guard 



Moose Creek 

Snake Lake 

Victoria Mission. 



Deep Creek 

Fort Edmonton. 



St. Albert 

St. Anns' 

Round Lake — 
Lobstick Creek. 



Valad's Camp... 

Camp Minnie I 

McLeod River Camp ; 

Indian Camp 

Muskeg Camp ! 

Plum Pudding Cam] 



Bayonette Camp. 
Beaver Camp — 
Island Camp.... 



2,(583 
40 



220 



307 



167 



193 



278 



Carried Forward. 



Distances between Fort Garry and Edmonton were measured by " Odometer. 



OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
IT IN ERA R Y — Continued. 



3/1 









Estimated miles travelled. 


JATE. 


Designation of places by the way. 


land 


WATER 


TOTAL 


1872 




Rail 


Horses 


Stea"r 


Canoe 






Camp 


Brought Forward. 








- 


3,888 


Sept l 9 




4 

25 
17 
4 














14. 


Head Pass- " 49. 








15 


" 50. 


" Yellow Head Camp. 










50 


16 




40 
4 
13 
31 
25 
26 
<« 

23 
24 
24 
26 
12 




25 
60 


17 Pa«s to K.am- " 52. 


u Herd Camp 






18 lr^r.a « sa 








19 


" 54. 
" 55. 
" 56. 

U CI 

" 57. 
" 58. 
" 59. 
" 60. 
« 61. 
" 62. 








20. 








21. 


" Camp Cheadle 






22. 
23. 

°4 


" Headless Indian.. . 
u Camp V 







25 








26. 
27. 


11 Bunch Grass Camp 






28 


















333 


2S> 






38 

48 
56 


95 


16 








Oct 1. 

9 




u 

" Lytton 






3. 


« Yale 






4. 
















253 


5. 




8 


32 
190 

80 
100 

80 






" "Waddington Harb'r 














8. 


Douglas." 








9. 














490 


10. 






150 

150 






«< « 








Str. Sir James Douglas. 


Total Mileage. . 






300 

5.314 


957 


2.185 


1.687 


485 



SUMMARY. 



Miles. 

Distance travelled by Railway 957 

" " Horses, including waggon, pack and saddle horses 2,185 

" " Steamers— on St. Lawrence and Pacific waters 1,687 

" Canoes or row-boats 485 

Prom Halifax to Victoria ? Total miles 5.314 

between J uly 1st and Oct. 11th. i 



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